Serényiho cisterna
The Plešivec Plateau is a limestone plateau in the Slovak Karst National Park that rises approximately 400 meters above the surrounding terrain. It is a Slovak natural unique feature and is metaphorically compared to Emmental cheese. This is because it is riddled with deep holes; around 800 sinkholes and 200 caves and chasms have been recorded here. In the past, the plateau was used for cattle grazing, but this was complicated by a major issue—lack of water. The solution was the Serényi Cistern, today little known, but the only technical structure of its kind in Slovakia.
Marked hiking trails lead to the cistern from the villages of Plešivec and Štítnik (via the blue trail), Slavec and Kružná (via the yellow trail), and Rakovnica (via the green trail).
The cistern is a circular concrete structure with a diameter of approximately 15 meters and a depth of 3.8 meters. It was originally planned to be built from limestone, but concrete was ultimately chosen because it is impermeable to water. The reservoir can hold up to 960,000 liters of water. In the center, it is divided into two halves by a wall so that the entire tank does not need to be emptied during cleaning. Rainwater was collected through 14 openings evenly distributed along the perimeter and then filtered through gravel, sand, and activated carbon. The filtered water was pumped from the reservoir into troughs using two beam wells. After construction, it supplied about 1,600 head of cattle, horses, and sheep.
The Serényi Cistern was built in 1913 as a result of prolonged drought in the early 20th century. It is named after the then Minister of Agriculture of Austria-Hungary, Vojtech Serényi. A commemorative plaque once stood on the site but was destroyed by vandals in the 1970s. The cistern remained in use until the end of the 20th century, with the last repairs carried out in 1995. In 2020, discussions began about its restoration and declaration as a national cultural monument, but it is still in a state of decay today. We hope it will be restored soon.
