JÁCHYMOV – gateway to the Ore Mountains

The highest mountain of the Ore Mountains may conceal one of the most fascinating traces of the distant past. Deep in the forests below Klínovec lies an inconspicuous landform that has raised a question for almost a hundred years: did a real mountain glacier exist here during the last Ice Age?

The answer is still not entirely clear. What is certain, however, is that this landscape was shaped by forces that are difficult to imagine today in the mild climate of the Ore Mountains.

Jáchymov is no ordinary mountain town. It is a place where the landscape seems to rise almost before your eyes – from the valley of the Jáchymov Stream through the steep streets of the historic centre up to the summit of Klínovec, the highest mountain of the Ore Mountains. Within a single cadastral area, there is an elevation difference of almost 700 metres, and the town itself climbs approximately 200 metres over a distance of only two kilometres. It is precisely this extraordinary location, together with the geological wealth hidden deep beneath the surface, that created a unique landscape which shaped the fate of Jáchymov and its inhabitants for centuries.

The Ore Mountains are not merely a mountain range on the northwestern edge of Bohemia. They are a landscape shaped over hundreds of millions of years by enormous forces hidden deep within the Earth. Movements of continents, glowing magma, volcanic activity, an Ice Age climate and the tireless work of water and time created a mountain range with an exceptionally diverse geological structure and unique natural wealth. It was precisely this long history that gave rise to the ore veins that later made the Jáchymov region famous throughout the world. The landscape of silver, uranium, mountain peat bogs and rare species still tells a story much older than humanity itself.