Walk through a territory that remembers a lot and yet is silent in the silence of the ages. The national nature reserve in the northwestern tip of the Danube Plain between Svätý Jura, Vajnore and Crovátsky Grob is one of the unique ones of European importance.
In this location, the nature trail Šúru's Natural Gems was created, which leads you to our last marshy alder forest. It begins in St. Jura near the Šúrsky pond, specifically at the bridge leading over the Šursky canal. The route is easy, reserve about 1.5 hours for it. It is about three kilometers long with six stops plus two entrance information panels.
The first stop of the educational trail is Šúrsky rybník – a historic reservoir near the western edge of the reserve. The Biological Station of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Comenius University in Bratislava has been located nearby since 1958.
The most valuable part of the territory is the so-called Šúr with bog alder forest. It is part of a larger area that was a swamp in the past. It was created here by the flow of several streams until a lake was born, which was gradually buried and the dead plants created a marshy bog covered with a marshy alder forest. The peatland was drained by the stream Čierna voda, which got its name from the color of the water from the leachate of the peat. Scientists were also interested in the area, but farmers pushed for drainage of the land. It happened gradually until the decision was made to build the Šúrsky canal, which was built by political prisoners and its existence brought with it many victims. For example, also in the form of repeated fires of dried peat. The latest activities are aimed at saving Šúr.
Another rare part of the area is the Pannonian Grove, which consists of the remnants of a heat-loving lowland oak-elm-ash forest. To the southeast of the Šúrske rybník there is a gardening and cottage settlement - Osada Panónsky háj. On its site and in its surroundings, there are preserved buildings where during the Second World War, mainly Jews and Roma working on the construction of the Šursky Canal were concentrated. After the war, an internment camp was established here for citizens of German and Hungarian nationality from Czechoslovakia. We owe them the construction of the wooden Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Galéria
