MOLDAVITE - the enigmatic precious stone, whose origin is still shrouded in mystery. The myths about moldavite date back to the early Middle Ages. Is moldavite one of the stones of Holy Grail which fell from the skies and which has the capacity to give people eternal youth and immortality? The modern science has created a number of theories on the origin of moldavite. The most plausible of them says that 15 milion years ago a huge meteorite landed somewhere in the territory of today's Central Europe in the Czech Republic.

The Czech name of moldavite (vltavin) is derived from the czech river Vltava, as it was first found in its fluvial deposits. The international name moldavite comes from the German name of the river Vltava - Moldau.
The kinetic energy transformed into thermal energy within a fraction of a second and brought about the formation of hot liquid magma which was then catapulted back into the atmosphere. The dispersed mass descended again on the Earth in the form of molten drops within the distance of hundreds of kilometers. Due to complex geological and tectonic processes, the vast majority of the moldaviten mass was destroyed by gradual erosion. Only minor residua of the original sediments have been preserved until now. For this reason, moldavite is a very rare precious stone to be found only in a few localities in southern Bohemia.

Graphics & layout: ©2000 Dalibor Feuereisl - All Rights Reserved

Optimalized for Netscape Communicator 4.0 or above (800x600)