Chýnov Cave - Protection and research
PROTECTION AND USE
Given the rapid progress of the works in the Pacova Mountain mine, the Chýnov Cave protected area was officially set up in the 1940s thus delimiting the limits the exploitation must not exceed. In 1949, the Ministry of Education, Science and Art established the Chýnov Cave Nature Reserve. On the grounds of new discoveries and surveys the protected area was extended several more times in the following years. As the locality is unique and important the ChýnovCave was transferred into the category of national nature monument in 1992. All the lands above the karst system are included in the hygienic protection area of the Rutice water source of the drinking water supplied to the town of Chýnov.
Since the 1990s conservation management has been applied in the cave. The aim of this management is to remove or at least minimize all negative impacts of its long and intensive tourist operation. Dozens of tons of debris and sediment have to be excavated and removed so that visitors can move round cave comfortably. However, this resulted in filling the other natural corridors and cavities around the route of the tour. From 1994 to 2004 all this material (approximately 270 t) was carried out of the cave and the underground recovered its original appearance. At present, visitors do not realize the existence of these landfills and the view of the cleaned parts is simply commonplace. At the same time, all soot, dust, wax and moulds were carried out that settled when the cave was lit by open flame. Not until now have we truly understood how miraculous the calcite walls must have appeared when they were discovered.
The sensitive ecosystem of every cave that is accessible to the public is burdened by operation as a tourist facility. That is why the use of the ChýnovCave must meet strict landscape protection conditions. The necessary regulation of the numbers of visitors lies especially in limiting the numbers of persons in particular groups and determining the suitable frequency of tours. The cave is closed in winter so that the bats can hibernate undisturbed.
The Chýnov Cave is managed and operated by an allowance organization established by the Ministry of the Environment, "Cave Administration of the Czech Republic”, which provides not only guide services, but also the protection, documentation and exploration of the entire karst system, in co-operation with the Czech Speleological Society. This non-commercial operation provides presentation of the cave as a unique part of the Czech Republic’s natural treasury to the public and experts.
The Chýnov Karst is in many ways a truly unique natural phenomenon. All activities in the Chýnov Cave are therefore subordinate to a single purpose - to ensure that its discovery was not the first step on the road to its doom.
