Kernberg Quarry, Basalt quarry in Jindřichovice, Czech Republic

Kernberg Quarry is a former basalt quarry on the site of the Kernberg hill in Jindřichovice. Extraction left a pit whose floor lies 65 m below the rim, now flooded by rainwater and groundwater. The quarry walls expose the volcanic neck of a Miocene volcano, and the rock is mostly nephelinitic basanite.

Basalt was already being quarried on Kernberg in 1785, when topographer Schaller recorded its use as a smelting additive for the Rotava ironworks. A modern quarry with a crusher and sorting plant opened in 1906; in 1920 the United Basalt Works of Karlovy Vary electrified it. By 1927 its walls reached 40 m and it was Czechoslovakia's largest basalt quarry. Operations ended on 10 October 1995.

Stone extraction shaped employment in Jindřichovice for generations, and the quarry remains a defining landmark that residents associate with their community's industrial roots. People still remember when mining was the main source of work for local families.

Visitors can view the quarry from designated observation points along its perimeter without entering restricted areas. The water-filled excavations and steep walls make direct access dangerous and off-limits.

The water-filled basins in the quarry developed over decades and now attract migratory birds to the area. This accidental outcome of stone extraction created an unexpected habitat for wildlife.