Country
Fossil hunting in Czechia
Czech trilobites carry two centuries of research behind them. Joachim Barrande described the Lower Palaeozoic fauna of the Prague basin from 1852, and the region still carries his name. At one locality in the Skryje area, hand collecting from scree is tolerated at one designated spot.
The Barrandian is the Lower Palaeozoic basin southwest of Prague. Its Cambrian rocks around Skryje and Tyrovice hold 7 miomeroid and 22 polymeroid trilobite species. The Skryjsko-tyrovicke kambrium is a declared nature monument inside the Krivoklatsko Protected Landscape Area.
Hand collecting from scree is tolerated at one designated spot, which is unusual for a protected site of this standing. Spoil heaps give you workable material, so the outcrop itself stays intact. Czech state tourism publishes the locality as a visitor activity, and it sits inside the Barrandien National Geopark.
Pressure from collectors is a recorded problem at Luh u Skryji. Take less than you want, work the loose material, and leave the faces alone.
1 fossil site
Updated 11 September 2026
Frequently asked questions
- Can you collect trilobites in the Czech Republic?
- At one designated spot in the Skryjsko-tyrovicke kambrium nature monument, yes, and hand collecting from scree is tolerated there. Work the spoil heaps rather than the outcrop. Elsewhere in the Krivoklatsko protected landscape, assume you cannot.
- Where did Barrande collect his trilobites?
- In the Lower Palaeozoic basin southwest of Prague now called the Barrandian after him. He began describing the fauna in 1852. Skryje and Jince are among the classic Cambrian localities.