Jeskyně svatého Ivana

Useful Information

Location:	Svatý Jan Pod Skalou, Český Kras. Southwest of Prague. E50 exit Beroun north, follow 605 south towards Beroun, first left, 116 towards Hlásná Třebaň, after 4,5 km turn left. 1.5 km to the village. (49.9689200, 14.1342788)
Open:	APR to OCT Sat, Sun, Hol 10-13, 14-17. School Holidays Tue-Sun 10-13, 14-17. [2025]
Fee:	free, donations welcome. [2025]
Classification:	Tufa Cave Tufa Deposits
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	V. Cílek (1988): Ivanova jeskyně ve Svatém Janu pod Skalou, ?eský kras 14, 1988, str. 5-16. ()
Address:	Svatojánské společnost. sjs@svatyjan.cz info center info@svatyjan.cz.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

9th century	according to legend Ivan, the first Czech Christian hermit, settled in a cave under a large cliff.
2012	Svatojánské Muzeum created in the former school building.
2017	measuring station installed at the spring.

Description

The small cave Jeskyně svatého Ivana (St. Ivan Cave) is located under the Baroque church of the Benedictine monastery at the village Svatý Jan Pod Skalou (St. John Under the Rock). This is one of the most picturesque villages in the Český Kras southwest of Prague. The houses and the monastery with its Baroque church are built below a huge white limestone cliff. Below the church is a cave chapel, with most of the nave integrated into a huge natural cave which once formed a shelter at the foot of the limestone cliff. However, the walls are plastered and the natural cave is almost invisible. Only at the far end there is some tufa with imprints of leaves and some stalactites visible. The cave is connected to the nearby Studánka sv. Ivana (Saint Ivan Spring) with its limestone rich water. The spring was considered to have healing properties and in the early 20th century hydrotherapy baths were established. It was even bottled and sold under the name "IVANKA" until the 1970s. But as karst water is quite fragile against pollution it has unfortunately a high amount of nitrates and even sometimes bacteria. Since 2017 there is a measuring station which gives the current water quality, as the spring is still a popular source of water for thousands of visitors and for locals.

According to legend, the first Czech Christian hermit, Saint Ivan, settled in a cave under a large cliff. Hence, the cave is also called Jeskyně poustevníka Ivana (Cave of Ivan the Hermit).

Saint Ivan was the son of the Polabian prince Gostimys I, king of the Obodrites. He lived for years undetected as a hermit in the cave on forest fruits and the milk of a tamed forest doe. Once he was tempted to abandon the hermit’s life, but John the Baptist appeared to him and gave him a cross to protect him from temptation. The next time he was tempted by a demon, Ivan hit him with the cross and that the demon flew out of the cave leaving a hole in the ceiling. But one day the Bohemian prince Bořivoj I, who lived in Tetín, hunted and wounded a doe, which he chased to a rock near Ivan’s cave. Here he killed it with a spear, but instead of blood, milk flowed from the fatal wound. The prince and his retinue drank to their heart’s content, as there was an enormous amount of milk. The hermit Ivan emerged, addressed the prince by name and asked him why he had killed his doe. Bořivoj invited him to live at his manor, but he refused. But he visited Bořivoj’s residence to attend a church service celebrated by priest Pavel. He did not eat or drink anything but returned to his cave where he soon died. Bořivoj established the chapel of St. John the Baptist here and appointed two priests.

Its unclear when this all happened, but the death of Saint Ivan is generally dated to the period 882–893. The Vitae Sanctorum places his death around 900. Its also not documented when the first chapel was actually built. In 1033, Bretislav I ceded the chapel to the Ostrov Monastery and the Benedictines established a provostship here. After the dissolution of the Ostrov Monastery in 1517, they erected an abbey here, and around 1700 they built a new Baroque monastery complex.

This is a karst area and most caves are karst caves, created by the solution of the limestone. This cave here is actually a tufa cave, which was created by the deposition of this limestone. After dissolving the rock, the limestone rich water reaches the rim of the karst or a low spot where it reemerges in a karst spring. The carbon dioxide in the water vanishes into the air, the water is not able to keep the limestone dissolved, and it is deposited forming tufa aka sweetwater limestone. Moss and other plants speed this process, but are covered by the deposited limestone as well as leaves, and twigs. The organic matter decomposes and pores form in the lime, which is why it is called tuff. This cave was formed as a primary cave by the deposition of tufa, and you can still see numerous imprints of leaves in the walls.