Amatérská jeskyně is a cave system in the Moravian Karst in the Blansko area, through which the underground Punkva river flows.
Amatérská jeskyně is a cave system in the Moravian Karst in the Blansko area. The Punkva flows through it; according to Deník, it is 29 kilometres long and is the longest underground watercourse in Czechia. It forms beneath the surface of the Moravian Karst where the Bílá voda joins the Sloupský potok. After passing through Amatérská jeskyně, the Punkva emerges for a short stretch at the bottom of the Macocha, then flows through the Punkva Caves, where boat trips are run for tourists, and finally through the Punkva valley towards Blansko, on the edge of which it flows into the Svitava.[1][2]
The flooded passages are explored by cave divers. According to a ČTK photo caption from 10 May 2025, divers of the Czech Speleological Society went through the most extensive part of the local cave system, fulfilling the efforts of many generations of explorers to connect Nová Rasovna with the Macocha.[3]
In October 2026, according to Radek Nejezchleb, chairman of the speleological organisation Plániva, divers probably discovered the place where the Punkva begins, which had not been known precisely until now. This will be certain only after tracer tests; the cavers want to discuss the procedure with experts from Charles University and to install sensors with tracers in winter. They also succeeded in connecting the dome beneath Rodeo with Šolimova mísa by a passage about 50 metres long, which they had been trying to achieve since 2020.[1][2][3]
Chronology
- — Cave divers in Amatérská jeskyně in the Moravian Karst have most probably found the place where the Punkva river begins at the confluence of the Sloupský potok and the Bílá voda, and have physically connected Šolimova mísa with the dome beneath Rodeo. → ČTK / České noviny Novinky.cz