In this location, the nature trail Šúru's Natural Gems was created, which will take 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 remains of a lowland thermophilic oak-elm-ash forest. Southeast of the Šúrske Pond is a gardening and cottage settlement - the Pannonian Grove Settlement. On its site and in the surrounding area, there are preserved buildings where mainly Jews and Roma working on the construction of the Šúrske Canal were concentrated during World War II. 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.
Photo: Miroslav Grencik
