VYŠNÉ RUŽBACHY – Alajournal

There is a place on the south-eastern foothills of the Spišská Magura mountains where our mother nature played games and created travertine deposits and mineral springs in the process. 🙂 In the local travertine quarries traces of the Paleolithic period people were found. Travertine is not being extracted here any more but it is to be seen everywhere in the present day small village of appr. 1300 inhabitants. All houses as well as stables were built of it in the past. It is still used in modern architecture for decorative purposes.

The first written mention of the settlement dates back to 1329. The little village of Vyšné Ružbachy became famous with its mineral water. Due to the curing effects of mineral water springs the first mineral spa was founded here in the 15th Century. The spa became very popular with the Polish and Old Hungarian aristocracy. In 1882 it was purchased by count Andrzej Zamoyski (1852-1927) and he brought about the biggest development of the spa. He was also the owner of Stará Ľubovňa castle. His youngest son Jan Kanty Zamoyski inherited the spa in 1927.

Vyšné Ružbachy. One of the unique features of this little village is a small travertine lake Kráter in the spa park. It can be seen between two buildings on the right side of the photo

Kráter – Crater – with a diameter of 20 m and a depth of 2-3 m is the largest travertine lake in Slovakia. Its strongly mineralized water has a temperature of 23°Celcius and it never freezes. This is the one and only crater in Ružbachy which is filled with water. Other craters are dry

Former travertine quarry – this is the location next to the village where travertine was extracted in the past. However, since 1964 the International Sculptural Symposium took over. Within the time of its history artists from 16 countries from around the world came here to create travertine statues. Most of them are exhibited here but many of them can be seen in the area of the spa park. You can even stumble upon some of them in the village itself 🙂 There are 104 of them. This is the second unique feature of this interesting village

International Sculptural Symposium in Vyšné Ružbachy

Author: Yasuo Mizui (1925-2008), Japan, 1966 – Hommage á Tatra = To Tatra, hommage to our tallest Slovak mountain range – the High Tatras – our beloved 🙂 Yasuo Mizui was a Japanese stone sculptor who lived in France. The High Tatras are just appr. 30 km away from Vyšné Ružbachy

Author: Goto Hideki, Japan, 2001 – this sculpture is exhibited in the spa park, where it even can be used as a bench to relax

Juraj Bartusz, Slovakia, 1998. You should notice those stones around the beautiful tall pine tree

Interesting idea! Author: Juraj Bartusz, Slovakia, 1998

White House was completed in 1931 and it literally stands on a travertine rock. Its name comes from white travertine used for its construction. Earl Jan Kanty Zamoyski (1900-1961) had it built. In 1929 he married princess Isabel Alfonsa de Bourbon who was the niece of Spanish king. I am writing about them in my previous article STARÁ ĽUBOVŇA CASTLE, too. He used her dowry for the White House construction and I think that it was well spent 🙂 Anyway, I love this building <3 And it is the third unique feature of this special village

The Spring of Love and the Spring of Oblivion. There are 14 mineral water springs in Vyšné Ružbachy. The most yelding of them all is Izabela, water from which is used in all spa pools. Jan Kanty Zamoyski had it drilled in 1928 and he named it after his wife Isabel. As water temperature is 19-21°C it has to be heated before being used in the spa pools. Mineral waters are the fourth unique feature of this village

Dry crater. There are several craters in Vyšné Ružbachy. However they are not related to volcanic activity. They are in fact collapsed travertine hills that precipitated around the mineral water springs rich in calcium. Lake Kráter, mentioned above, has water, but all other craters are dry. We can see one of them in this photo. Danger warning sign had to be installed in it because of CO2. That is to say carbon dioxide occurring in the travertine underground is released by the crater. As it is heavier than air it stays at the bottom. This is dangerous for small animals getting into the crater. Subsequently, little dead animals are found. This is the reason why it is called Death hole. It is not recommended even to us humans to go in there. All these dry craters are the fifth unique feature of this special village.