The weakest gravity in Slovakia is not found at the country’s highest point, Gerlachovský štít peak, but at the slightly lower Lomnický štít. Experts confirmed this calculated assumption through direct measurements taken during a recent expedition to Gerlachovský peak.
Intuitively, the weakest gravitational acceleration should occur at the summit of Slovakia’s highest peak, which stands at 2,654.8 metres above sea level. This follows one of the fundamental theoretical principles of gravity: as the distance from the Earth increases, gravity “weakens”. However, the institute’s simulated calculations pointed to something different from intuition. The “predicted” value of gravitational acceleration was slightly higher than on Lomnický štít, with 2,634 m above sea level the second highest peak in Slovakia, which is lower in elevation and where direct measurements have long been available thanks to access by cable car, the Earth Science Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) writes on its website.
“According to our calculations, the shape of these peaks is responsible for this interesting phenomenon,” the institute states. “Gerlachovský štít is somewhat more massive than Lomnický peak, which causes ‘additional gravity’ at its summit compared with Lomnický peak.”
In order to verify the calculations, a geodetic-geophysical mini-expedition to Gerlachovský peak took place in September 2025, comprising Juraj Papčo from the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Slovak University of Technology, Pavol Zahorec from the Institute of Earth Sciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and Ivan Šulek from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava.
The measurements confirmed their calculations. The gravitational acceleration on Gerlachovský peak – specifically the value of 9.8035447 m/s² – is slightly higher than on Lomnický peak. As a result, the title of the lowest gravity in Slovakia for now remains with Lomnický peak (9.803521 m/s²), mainly thanks to the peak’s specific and extremely sharp shape.
Related article
What it’s like to work at the highest workplace in Slovakia
Read more
Slovakia’s gravimetric database, unique worldwide in terms of the number of measurement points relative to the size of the country, is the result of almost half a century of geophysical surveying and research. It represents a rich source of information on Slovakia’s gravity field. Together with other data, such as the local shape of the terrain, it allows gravitational acceleration to be predicted with relatively high accuracy even in places where direct measurements have not yet been carried out, the institute states.
