The Pravčice Gate in Bohemian Switzerland –one of Nature’s marvels
The Usti nad Labem Region has many attractions but there is nothing to beat the breathtaking beauty of the sandstone rocks of Bohemian Switzerland and the Pravčice gate of sandstone created through millions of years of erosion.
The history of the Pravčice Gate goes back to the Mesozoic era – approximately a hundred million years ago, when the region known as Bohemian Switzerland lay at the bottom of an ocean. When the ocean receded, the layers of sandstone were broken up by volcanic activity. Over millions of years, Nature created a world of wondrous sandstone formations – the most amazing of which is the Pravčice Gate.
The sandstone formations are visited by thousands of tourists every year – and many people make the trip out especially to see the Gate with their own eyes. Vaclav Sojka from the Bohemian Switzerland National Park says its beauty fires people’s imagination.
“It is the biggest sandstone gate in Europe and people see it as a gate to a rock empire or, as Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, who came here in 1831 described it, a gate to the land of fairytales. Primitive cultures would view the gate as a female symbol and the cone sandstone formation behind it as a male symbol. For centuries this gate has attracted people as a gate to another world or a symbol of fertility.”
The gate is 16 meters tall at its highest point and the arch spans over 26 meters, the surface area of the arch is 21 meters. In the past people were allowed to cross it, but that is no longer possible due to the damage done by human traffic. National Park employee Tomáš Salov explains.
“At its narrowest point the arch is only two and a half meters thick. During the 150 years or so of tourists crossing it, it thinned down by almost 50 centimeters so since 1982 it is forbidden to walk across the arch. But there are several vantage points here which give you a much better view.”
Several scenes in the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe were filmed here. Filmmakers respected the ban and the scenes in which the actors appear to run over the arch were filmed in the studio.
Tourists first discovered this paradise in the 19th century thanks to two Romanticist painters –Anton Graff and Adrian Zingg and it was they who gave this place its name – first Saxon Switzerland and then Bohemian Switzerland. People started using it and the name caught on.
Back then, the roads were rough and getting here was not easy. It was customary to organize a day’s excursion out with guides and mules. Those who could afford it travelled in greater comfort by paying carriers to take them up in litters. A trip to the gate and back in a litter cost 1 gulden and thirty kreutzers. Rich or poor, people came to see this marvel and the increasing tourism provided many local people with a livelihood. Inn keeping and the manufacture and sale of souvenirs flourished in the vicinity.
Written records say that in 1836, 1,163 pilgrims visited the Pravčická Gate on a single day. Tomáš Salov says that at the time there wasn’t much in the way of refreshment.
“In 1826 the only refreshment in the area was a wooden hut serving as a tavern. In 1881 a member of the nobility, Prince Edmund Clary-Aldringen, had a guesthouse built in the vicinity which today houses a restaurant and a museum and is known as the Falcon’s Nest. It is one of the oldest guesthouses in the country which has been maintained in its original style.
Today the Pravčice Gate is visited by thousands of people every year. Although few visitors notice it, there is a people-meter that keeps count.
“There is a people-meter hidden in this little pillar here and the annual number of visitors never falls below 180,000, give and take. There could be a few deer or other wild animals crossing in that count, but they would be placed within the “margin for error”.
The beautiful sandstone rocks naturally also attract climbers. Tomáš Salov again.
“I would say that these rocks were the cradle of climbing in Bohemia and at first it was done in a very crude style which naturally damaged the rocks. Fortunately, common sense soon prevailed and the concept of so-called "ethical climbing" was born – i.e. climbing with minimal damage to the rocks.”
In July 2022, the Bohemian Switzerland National Park was ravaged by the largest forest fire in the country’s history. It raged for three weeks destroying an area of over 1,000 hectares between the iconic gate and the German border. Luckily, the Gate survived and although the surrounding woodland is a sorry sight, the charred area is being revitalized and tourists have started coming back.
An ambitious reforestation effort is underway using native tree species so as to restore the park’s natural splendor and sustainability. Most trails and campsites that were closed to the public after the fire have been reopened.
Countless visitors admiring the Pravčice Gate have stood in awe of the power of Nature and contemplated exactly how such natural arches are formed and what keeps them from collapsing. In 2014 a team of Czech-American scientists provided an answer, recreating, in the lab, similar conditions as those that created the gate sandstone formation on a small scale.
Using sandstone blocks under pressure in water, they eroded the material until the vertical stress increased, putting pressure on the arch. They claim that as stress from the load grew, the sandstone, a granular sediment, reached a critical point, and paradoxically instead of falling apart got stronger. The greater the stress, the greater resistance to erosion, explaining why the stunning structure has stood majestically for so long.
But can it really withstand the test of time and will it still be here for future generations to admire?
Czech scientists perform regular manual measurements at six points and automatic measurements at another four points to monitor the mutual movements of the rock blocks from which the gate is made. They also carry out geophysical monitoring of the arch using geo-electrical, geo-radar, seismic, and thermometric methods with the help of a drone. The results are promising. Dilatometric monitoring was launched in 1993, even before the creation of the national park. Today, scientists have a more than thirty-year measurement curve and no dangerous behavioral trends are evident. For the time being, they say, the Pravčická Gate appears to be stable.
Related
-
Ústí nad Labem Region
This region boasts the natural beauty of the Ore Mountains, the Elbe waterway. The sandstone rocks of Bohemian Switzerland.
-
Discover Czechia's regions
With its rich history, stunning architecture and beautiful skyline Prague attracts visitors from all over the world. But there is much more to see in Czechia.
-
