Velká Amerika: The Czech Grand Canyon

Velká Amerika, or the Great America, is an abandoned limestone quarry located near the village of Mořina, in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, just a few kilometers from Prague. This partially flooded elongated trench is the country’s most photogenic “natural” attraction to be conceived by human activities. The Czechs affectionately call it the Grand Canyon of the Czech Republic.

Quarrying activities started in this region in the late 19th century in response to the great demand for the stone. Limestone was used mostly in industries, to refine sugar from sugar beet, in blast furnaces for producing iron and in manufacture of glass, among others. Mining activities increased again after the first World War, and the quarries at Mořina became deeper and longer, until Velká Amerika became an 800-meter long and 100-meter deep gash on the landscape. After mining operation ceased in 1963, rainwater flooded the hole forming a lake at the bottom.

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