Stará Vožice - Ratibořské Hory mining district, Tábor District, South Bohemian Region, Czech Republici

Regional Level Types
Stará Vožice - Ratibořské Hory mining district	Mining District (Inactive)
Tábor District	District
South Bohemian Region	Region
Czech Republic	Country

A polymetallic Ag-Pb-Zn deposit.

Written records show that the ore here was mined for four centuries, between 1526 and 1927, but it is probable that mining began much earlier. The village of Vřesce is mentioned as the site of silver mining in Vita Caroli, the record Karel IV. (Charles IV.) (1316–78), King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, made of his life.

Silver mining in the area around Ratibořice began in the 1550s under the Měděnec family of Sezimovo Ústí. Sixty years later, Emperor Rudolf II (1552–1612) leased the mines to the Lords of Rosenberg for a period of thirty years. By 1602, the mines, by then under the management of Petr Vok, were very active. It was during this time that the famous “Rosenberg fortune” grew up.
After Petr Vok’s death in 1611, the mines for a time passed back into the emperor’s keeping. After 1622, they were transferred to Jan Oldřich von Eggenberg, owner of the Chýnov estate, who in 1623 acquired the right to mint his own silver coin.
During the Thirty Years War, the Ratibořské Hory mines went into decline, only some maintenance work was done on the Jan Gallery. On 18 July 1654, Nové Ratibořice was renamed to Ratibořské Hory and elevated to the status of a mining town. Its first inhabitants were German miners professing the Protestant faith.
In 1719, the Eggenberg estate was inherited by the Schwarzenberg family, which brought silver mining in the Stará Vožice-Ratibořské Hory area to its zenith. The mines here were most productive in the 1770s, although even during this period of relatively high production mining was not especially profitable. Between 1721 and 1850, a total of 70,643 kg of silver was mined here.
After 1844, mining activity was increasingly limited. The slag that was processed in the 1850s did not bring much in the way of silver. During this period, the Schwarzenbergs sold the Stará Vožice mines, while at Ratibořské Hory only maintenance work was performed while the family attempted to sell off the mines.
At the end of the nineteenth century, a British mining company tried its luck at the “Všech svatých” (All Saints) mines near Vřesce, but it soon abandoned the place. After the First World War, mining was revived for a time at the new “Hloubení” (Excavation) mine. In 1927, the last maintenance work was carried out on the Josef Gallery and the area was offered to the state. The state authorities, however, declined the offer and, since that time, the mines have remained abandoned – flooded and inaccessible.

A well-preserved mining monument
It is interesting to note that the Stará Vožice-Ratibořské Hory area was one of the few historical mining areas in the country to be run by members of the high Bohemian nobility and that only a small role was played here by the monarch or by townspeople.
Before high explosives came into use, the ore was first hewn out by hand using simple tools and then drawn out in buckets with primitive winches. This method of working, used in the more than 150, mostly rather shallow mines, is the origin of the mounds and other features that characterize the landscape. Preserved under the earth are miles of tunnels, which from time to time cave in. Stories are told in these parts about larders that have disappeared with all their contents into the depths.
The Stará Vožice-Ratibořské Hory area is one of the best-preserved mining monuments of its kind in the Czech Republic. The region’s mining past is evident in the form of reservoirs, gullies, mine buildings, and ruins, which remain distinctive features of the landscape to this day.

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References