The area between Mořina and Karlštejn is crisscrossed with quarries, which together form a system known as Little and Big America. Today, tramps, adventurers and photographers visit the area, but few people know that deep in the bowels of the rocks is the Chapel of St. Barbara, a place of quiet reverence and mystery.
The chapel is carved directly into a rock wall in one of the underground complexes. It is not very spectacular, there is no altar made of gold and stained glass, only a metal cross, a small niche for a candle and a faded image of St. Barbara, the patron saint of all those who descend underground. This is where the miners used to come to pray before they started their shift. They were aware that the underground was unforgiving of mistakes and believed that Barbara would answer their prayers.
A candle for those who did not return
According to tradition, anyone entering the corridors of America was to light a candle and place it on the ground. If a draft blew it out, it was a sign that the path was dangerous. In such a case, miners should postpone their work. Many of those who ignored this warning are said never to have returned.
When the quarries were later abandoned by the workers and nature and the tramps took over, the legend of St. Barbara remained alive. In the 1950s, a former miner who survived a cave-in in Mexico, a neighbouring quarry, is said to have brought a new cross. Since then, it has been said that anyone who lights a candle in the chapel and asks for protection will never stray underground.
The story of a lost miner from America
During those years, a miner named Josef Krček worked there, a quiet man who was not afraid of working underground. One evening, however, he disappeared without a trace. It happened the night after St. Barbara's Day, when a small devotion was held in the quarry. Everyone was already on the surface, but Joseph decided to explore one of the older adits. "For a while," he said, taking only his lamp and helmet.
There was no sign of him in the morning. The searchers explored all the corridors until they came across a burnt candle wick and a cross carved in stone. It was by a small rock niche, just where the miners used to pray.
The next day Joseph reappeared. He was exhausted, pale, but alive. He told us that he was lost in the underground, his lamp had gone out and he heard a woman's voice in the darkness.
Stay on course. The light will find you.
He claimed that in the dim light he saw a female figure with a lantern pointing the way. From then on he carried a small picture of St. Barbara in his pocket, and every time he was about to descend the shaft he lit a candle in the chapel.
Between light and darkness
The atmosphere here is special. Moist silence mingles with the dripping of water, the echo of footsteps echoes from afar. The chapel seems almost alive, as if it is about to welcome another miner who comes with a helmet in his hand.
Tramps who still travel to America today speak of this place with reverence. "It's not a pilgrimage destination, but when you stand there with your headlamp off, you feel that the place has a soul," one friend wrote in an underground notebook kept there.
And perhaps that is why it is said that the chapel sometimes has a flickering light, even when it is empty. It is not a ghost, but St. Barbara herself, who is always watching over those who are about to travel to America.
Saint Barbara - patroness of mysterious places
Saint Barbara is the patron saint of miners, tunnelers and firemen. According to legend, she was a beautiful girl from a pagan family who was locked in a tower by her father to protect her from believing in Christ. Yet she was secretly baptized, and when her father found out, he had her executed. That is why she is often depicted with a tower and a chalice, a symbol of faith that survived even in the darkness.
Its presence in Quarry America is not accidental. Miners saw her as a symbol of hope in a place where light is scarce and death lurks at every turn.
The silence that tells
Today the chapel of St. Barbara is no longer officially accessible, the paths to the underground are dangerous and officially closed. Nevertheless, stories about it continue to be told. As a place that symbolizes the courage of people who dared to descend into the darkness, believing that they would find the light again.
And perhaps that is why a small flame still flickers in the darkness of America, a silent candle for all those who have not returned.
Stories of Tramp friends and memorials
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