Local tips
Besednické vltavíny
Autem 31 min
Besednice is known for moldavites with exceptionally sculptured surfaces, among the most valued by collectors worldwide. The natural site itself is protected and digging is forbidden. You can dig your own legally at the experience mine by the village.
Besednice near Trhové Sviny is the best moldavite locality in the Czech Republic; local stones are among the most prized in the world for deeply sculpted surfaces — called hedgehogs. It is a nature monument where any disturbance of the soil is banned, and police find new illegal dig marks every year. If you want to dig a moldavite yourself and keep it legally, you can — but only at the commercial mine by Besednice run by the Český Krumlov Moldavite Museum.
Practical details
- Autem 31 min
On site
On the monument itself on the Velký kámen slope you mainly see what diggers left — pits and disturbed soil. Unpleasant but instructive: on a site protected for scientific value much terrain is dug up. Without digging nothing is found here, so searching is pointless.
At the legal mine you work with a pick in gravel sand and search in the exposure. Moldavite shows by translucency — green glass unlike surrounding stone. Local pieces can be compared with the case in Jihočeské muzeum (story) or the Moldavite Museum in Český Krumlov.