Panská skála

Panská skála is a natural landmark situated near the town of Kamenický Šenov in the Liberec Region, in northern Bohemia. The name can be translated as “the Lord’s Rock”. Due to its appearance, it is colloquially known also as Varhany (“pipe organs”). Its hexagonal basalt columns reach up to 12 m (39 ft) and resemble the ones in the famous Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.

It is estimated that the basalt columns emerged about 30 million years ago, as a result of volcanic activity. There is a small lake in the depression at the foot of the rock.

Panská skála was declared a protected geological monument in 1895, as the first such site in Czechia (at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). However, the protection wasn’t very strict and the rock continued to be used as a quarry. In 1914, the authorities purchased the area from its private owners and prohibited further rock extraction. After World War II, the Czechoslovak government extended the protection of Panská skála. Nowadays, it is a major tourist attraction of Kamenický Šenov.