The Josef adit, which is currently part of the Josef Underground Laboratory, was dug in the 1980s in connection with the exploration of two gold deposits, which are named the same as the adjacent villages, namely Mokrsko and Čelina. However, due to the anticipated negative environmental impact of potential mining and other reasons, industrial exploitation of the deposit was never undertaken. Since the mid-1990s, after all exploration work had been completed, the mine and its surroundings were abandoned.
In 2003, the CTU in Prague came up with the idea to use the abandoned Josef adit to create a unique underground workplace for practical teaching and experimental activities. In May 2005, a contract was signed between the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the CTU in Prague and the administrator of the exploration work, the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic, for the loan of the adit for educational and research purposes. The Josef Underground Laboratory was opened in 2007. So far, about 6 km of adits and slots out of the total 8 km have been opened.
The activities of this academic department are focused mainly on practical teaching of students and implementation of research projects. Current societal issues, such as radioactive waste disposal, are addressed here.
"Recently, we have noticed an increased public interest not only in our exceptional location, but also in the projects we are working on here. In guided tours, we therefore introduce visitors not only to this unique underground workplace, but also to our research here. I am glad that in this way we can also bring the public closer to the rather complex societal problems of our time," says Ing. Jiří Št'astka, Ph.D., Head of the Centre for Experimental Geotechnics at CTU Faculty of Civil Engineering.
Newly selected tours will also be enriched by comments from miners who worked in the Josef Mine in the past. "During one of the events, we met miners by chance who came as visitors to see the place where they worked between 1980 and 1991, when the shaft was being mined. Their story, not planned at the time, captivated everyone. And so we agreed to extend the tours to include their memories of the tunneling, for example, how the shift operation, blasting, removal of ballast and a number of other operations worked here," adds Ing. Jiří Bendl from the Centre for Experimental Geotechnics of CTU Faculty of Civil Engineering, who organizes the tours.
Visitors to the Josef Adit can enjoy one type of the Čelina tour circle combined with a visit to the underground cavern. During the tour, which is approximately 800 m long, they will visit a part of the accessible adit in the Čelina area, learn about the use of the tunnel for teaching students and basic information about research projects. They will also learn about the history of gold mining in the Nový Knín area. They will climb a staircase built in the former climbing department to a 20 m high gallery where they will have a glimpse into the cavern, a unique underground space with a volume of 10 000 m3 and excellent acoustics.
The tour lasts 90 minutes, due to limited capacity it is necessary to register in advance. More information at https://www.stolajosef.cz/navsteva-stoly-josef/
During the creation of the website stolajosef.cz a photo "The last wagon on 12 April 1991" was discovered (photo by Josef Volf). The staff of the Centre of Experimental Geotechnics of Faculty of Civil Engineering of Czech Technical University managed to identify the miners in the photograph and to provide contacts to them, they subsequently contacted other miners who worked in the Josef Adit. Together they met and visited the mine again after many years.