Recommended trips

Rugged terrain, deep forests and a beautiful scenery of the Moravice river valley, a dense network of marked tourist footpaths offer a lot of opportunities for walking. There are also several natural trails in Hradec and its neighbourhood. 

Slepetné silver mine – pits and waste dumps- Slepetné silver mine – hereditary tunnel Kajlovec (0.2 km)

Nature trail gives information about the history of mining in the Czech Republic. Silver ore was extracted here and in the close surroundings in the 10th and 11th centuries, in the era of Moravian  Princes of the House of Přemyslids. Historic records show that mining in this area started earlier than in other well-known deposits, such as Jihlava, Kutná Hora or Příbram.  Slepetné silver mine nature trail was set up as a two-way route with two stops.  It is about 850 m long including the access road. It starts at its highest spot, at Nad Záviliším crossroads (460 m above the sea level). Its route turns off the yellow tourist path to the relics of a narrow stony access road to the old pits. The old way ends  after a few hundred metres on a small promontory with two flat waste dumps from the distant past. They are formed by flint stone and calcium veins, but mostly by carbon minerals mined from five ancient pits which are situated nearby. A board giving information about this stop is set up in the middle of the site, which offers a nice view of the castle, too.

The path leads then down the slope to the second stop of the nature trail, Kajlovec hereditary tunnel. Near the gate secured with the bars there is a board with photos of the medieval mining pits and relics of a burnt-out 18thcentury explosive charge.

The second stop gives information about the work of Kryštof of Gensdorf, who was in charge of mining during the reign of Ferdinand I. He visited Slepetné in 1529. From the site (420 m above the sea level) you can follow the yellow sign which leads down the northern slope of the mine to the valley and the main road connecting Hradec-upon-Moravice and Fulnek.

A few items of mining tools were found during the works aimed at securing the site and setting up the trail – a well preserved blade, a part of a chisel, a hammered nail, a big pointed hook and a broken horseshoe from medieval era.