An educational mining trail, leading past the most interesting remains related to mining and metallurgy in the Kutná Hora region, was opened in the spring of 1998. The entire route is divided into two separate circuits – a northern and a southern circuit. The trail is marked in the field with a green and white square, as used for marking educational trails.                      

”Silver Trail - Stříbrná stezka” SOUTHERN CIRCUIT - JIŽNÍ OKRUH – 9.5 km

This leisurely trail, which is also suitable for families with children, acquaints us with the remains of medieval mining activities. The first part leads us along the area called Na Rovinách (the opposite side of the valley of the Vrchlice Creek), which offers us a beautiful view of Kutná Hora’s sights. Then we continue along the valley of the Vrchlice Creek, with its remains of mills, until we reach the Velký rybník (Big Pond). On the way back we pass one of the most important archaeological sites in the village of Bylany. We return to Kutná Hora via Markovičky and around the Church of the Holy Trinity. The southern cricuit starts and ends in Palacký Square in the historical centre of Kutná Hora and has 14 stops:

  1. St George‘s Mining Gallery on the Oselský Belt – one of the most interesting technical remains of medieval mining
  2. Mine dump of the Mladá Kralice Mine on the Roveňský Belt – waste piles resulting from mining activities
  3. View of the Cathedral of St Barbara – Kutná Hora’s architectural gem
  4. Slag piles in the valley of the Vrchlice Creek – a relic from the activities of the so-called royal smelting works
  5. A quarry in front of Vrba‘s Mill – a reminder of the occurrence of minerals in so-called Alpine-type veins
  6. St Padua’s Mining Gallery – the most important of the mining works in the the valley of the Vrchlice Creek
  7. Poličany Mining Gallery – 200 m further against the flow of the creek
  8. Cimburk Mill – this stop near mill ruins will familiarise us with the local mills
  9. Dam of the Big Pond – built in 1850, provides an opportunity for a refreshing swim
10. Complex of the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic near Bylany –one of the most important archeological sites
11. Slag dumps in the Bylanky Valley – a remnant of medieval metallurgy
12. Mining gallery on the Moorish Veins
13. Mine dumps of the Hutrejtéře Mine on the southern part of the Oselský Belt – we will reach this stop by walking along a rocky road
14. Vyšat’s Quarry – to arrive at this last stop we will walk around the Gothic Church of the Holy Trinity 

"Silver Trail - Stříbrná stezka" NORTHERN CIRCUIT - SEVERNÍ OKRUH – 14 km

This moderately demanding trail, leading through the Na Vrších Nature Reserve, familiarises us with mining history. It begins with an uphill walk from the Na Pašince Restaurant to the summit of Kaňk Hill and continues between the Kaňk Hills to the former Turkaňk Mine. From there we descent along the road over Kaňk around the orchard to the village of Grunta. We return to the starting point of our route by going through the orchards and along the western slope of the Sukov Hill. The nothern circuit begins and ends at the Na Pašince Restaurant in Kaňk and has 12 stops:

   1. Summit of Kaňk Hill (353 metres above sea level) with a Calvary (a memorial to the miners‘ riots) which Count Chotek had built in 1814
   2. Depression between the abandoned mines of Kříž (Barbara) and Vidrhol – formed in 1969 by the collapsing of old mine passages
   3. Na Vrších Nature Reserve – declared back in 1933 to protect an example of an intertidal reef from the Cretaceous sea of the Mesozoic Era
  4. Mine dump of the former Magda mine shaft on the Rejský Belt
  5. Ochre ponds
  6. Turkaňk Mine – from the beginning of the 1950s
  7. Church of St Lawrence at Kaňk – in the village of Kaňk, which was founded as a mining settlement in the second half of the 13^th century
  8. Lord’s Hollow – a mining tower
  9. Mine dumps of the Kuntery Mine on the Old Bohemian Belt
10. Mine dumps of the Fráty Mine on the Old Bohemian Belt
11. Church of the Assumption of Our Lady in Grunta – trip around the orchard
12. Mine dumps of the Kuklický Belt – from here the circuit returns by a footpath leading between the orchards and the forest edge along the western slope of the Sukov Hill to Na Pašince, the starting point of the educational trail‘s northern circuit.                                      

Leaflet with map - Kutná Hora Educational trails →