Krápníky mého života – Pecka Ladislav (2025)

The memoir book "Stalactites of My Life" is the debut work of the author Ladislav Pecka. However, the author is a recognized figure among cavers, so it is no surprise that Václav Cílek was encouraged to write the foreword.

I have spent a significant part of my life in the company of inanimate matter - stalactites in various forms. I admired their fragile beauty in the caves and abysses of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, Slovenia, and Italy. How many times while working - digging, mapping, and documenting - did I manage to sit down, turn off the light, and listen to the sounds of falling drops of water.
At the beginning of the life of every stalactite or person is a life-giving drop. The human population grew under the protection of cave shelters. In the connection of impressions from the stalactite decoration and the magical play of shadows underground, the first religious ideas of people emerged: Muhammad in the cave of Hira, Jesus or Mithras, born in a cave…
The Mayan concepts of the underworld Xibalba or the small caves on Easter Island - all of these are witnesses to the intertwining of human culture with the underground world. In Moravia, the Bull Rock, in the Czech Karst our Martina - for every riddle answered from this world, new riddles appear. From the fragile beauty of stalactites, they become…