Jindřich (Heinrich) Wankel Obsah Front page Images from Moravian Switzerland Museum of Blansko Region Moravian Karst Jindřich (Heinrich) Wankel, 1821–1897 During his time in the Moravian Karst, he worked as a plant doctor at the Salm smelters. For some time he lived in the Blansko castle, where at that time there were apartments for senior officials of the Salm estate. There he was involved in many different scientific fields, such as cave palaeontology and cave archaeology. He founded speleology in our country and gave underground exploration in general a professional form. He popularized all the disciplines with the public and presented the results of his research to the world with considerable acclaim. In the grounds of Blansko Castle, in addition to his later service apartment, he also had a European-famous collection of natural history and archaeological findings. He created a small exhibition, a kind of small museum, which was visited by numerous experts from all over the world. He was the first to assemble a skeleton of a cave bear in our country, which he exhibited here, and he also assembled other skeletons for the Vienna Museum and other institutions. His discoveries from the Hallstatt period in the Bull Rock were very carefully and eruditely processed by the standards of the time. His unprofessional approach is blamed only by researchers who do not know the context of the time. Today's procedures, technologies and interpretation possibilities were not yet known at that time; on the contrary, Wankel introduced many things that are now commonplace into prehistoric and cave research. He was a gifted fiction writer. Although originally German, he was a fervent Czech and Moravian patriot; he could have been the forerunner of Cimrman, the jack-of-all-trades. When he retired in Olomouc, he needed somewhere to put his world-famous collection, but our museums were not interested in buying it for a very modest price. Therefore, the vast majority of Wankel's unique finds are now preserved by the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna. Despite this, Wankel remains one of the most important explorers in the history of our country. Cave divers Henry Wankel Czechoslovak Lion History of the chateau Hugo Franz Old Count Salm Olomučany pottery Archeology Treasure of silver coins The Mystery of "Býčí Skálal" Cave Princess of "Býčí Skála" Cave Funeral carriage Blansko artistic cast iron Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach