Mořina: Discover Quarries, History and Nature

Mořina combines an impressive limestone landscape with a well-documented local history. The area around the municipality is home to flooded quarries, old tunnels and evidence from various historical periods. This makes it a destination where nature observation, mining history and cultural discoveries offer different focal points for planning your day.

Limestone Quarries and Protected Nature

The mining landscape around Mořina includes old open-pit limestone quarries. Well-known quarries include Velká Amerika and Malá Amerika. Both are up to 100 metres deep and have clear lakes at their bottoms. Velká Amerika is one of the best-known flooded quarries in Czechia and is located about 4 km from Karlštejn Castle. You can reach Velká Amerika on foot or by car.

The scale of this landscape is the result of approximately 130 years of mining activity. During this period, a total of 20 quarries were opened in the Mořina area, including 19 open-pit mines. Many of them are now hidden in the forests of the CHKO Český kras west of the municipality of Mořina. The European protected site Štoly Velké Ameriky also preserves wintering grounds for several rare bat species. They are located in old, inaccessible tunnels connected to the quarries.

Underground History with a Guided Tour

The underground tunnels connecting the quarries near Mořina can be visited with trained guides from Spolek HAGEN Mořina. This distinction is important when planning your visit: the tunnels are not described as a freely accessible route, but as a site for a guided tour.

The tour of the Velká Amerika quarry also combines landscape and mining history. It usually lasts about 60–90 minutes and includes an elevation difference of 180 metres. During the tour, you receive explanations about the history of mining at the site. This allows you to connect views of the present-day quarry with its history of formation, rather than seeing the landscape solely as a photo opportunity.

Church and Jewish Cemetery in Mořina

The cultural side of the municipality includes Kostel sv. Stanislava. It was originally founded as a Gothic church and was first documented in writing as a parish church as early as 1353. In the 18th century, the church was rebuilt and adapted in the Baroque style. The Jewish cemetery in Mořina was established in 1735–1736. It preserves 312 gravestones dating from 1740 to the second half of the 1930s. Both sites complement the landscape experiences with historical themes that you can explore independently of a tour of the quarries.

Educational Trail for a Shorter Discovery

The Český Grand Canyon a Český Mauthausen educational trail is just under three kilometres long and has eleven information panels and interactive elements. It offers another way to explore the landscape and its history step by step. The different formats—the educational trail, guided tour and independent journey to Velká Amerika—help you adapt your plans for the day to your available interests and time slots.

Research Other Places in the Surrounding Area

If you would like to compare other places for your travel plans in addition to Mořina, here are the directly linked destinations: Otročiněves, Broumy, Kotopeky, Mezouň, Liteň, Vysoký Újezd, Tetín U Berouna and Zadní Treban.

To the higher-level travel overview: Beroun District.