Balzerův tábor, Cave system in Jetřichovice, Czech Republic.
Balzerův tábor, also called Balzerovo ležení or Balzers Lager, is a large sandstone rock overhang in the Jetřichovice Walls, about 1.5 km north of Jetřichovice in the České Švýcarsko National Park. It is not a cave system but an open shelter beneath a sandstone wall, reached on the red-marked E3 long-distance trail, which here coincides with the Jetřichovice Walls nature trail. Three historical inscriptions are cut into the rock face at the back of the overhang.
Balzerovo ležení is a sandstone overhang, not a limestone cave. According to local legend, its name comes from a man named Balzer under whose leadership the people of Jetřichovice fled marauding Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War. The oldest of three inscriptions on the rock wall is dated to the feast of St John the Baptist in 1632, when foreign armies were crossing the region. In the 19th century a seasonal beer tap operated beneath the overhang, run at the start of the 20th century by Emil Günter of Jetřichovice.
The name recalls a legend that villagers led by a man named Balzer hid here from Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War. A second reading links it to the German verb balzen, "to court", because Kinský foresters watched grouse courtship grounds here and reported the number of cocks to the estate owner.
The overhang lies about 1.5 km north of Jetřichovice on the red-marked E3 long-distance route, which here coincides with the Jetřichovické stěny nature trail. The three inscriptions are cut into the sandstone wall at the back of the overhang. Two small dripping springs carved into the rock, relics of the seasonal tavern era, are the only water source nearby.
The overhang is a sandstone rock shelter, not a limestone cave, and holds three inscriptions cut into its back wall. The oldest, dated 1632, records in abbreviated German that people gathered there on St John's Day while foreign troops crossed the region. A second was carved in 1856 by forester Ferdinand Bund of Rynartice.
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