Cerje cave
The Cerje Cave or Cerjanka ( Serbian Церјанска пећина, transliteration Cerjanska pećina) is a cave in southwestern Serbia . With a length of 7149 meters, it is the second longest cave in Serbia, after the 9818 meter long Lazar Cave .
Cerjanka is located three and a half kilometers east of the village of Cerje (Pantelej municipality) and 15 kilometers north of Niš . The cave has been under protection since 1955; and in 1998 it was declared a natural monument. Since then, two dams have been built to prevent the cave entrance from being silted up by a river, and a path and bridge have been built to make the entrance accessible for tourists. However, the cave remains inaccessible to the public.
The first explorations took place in 1976 by members of the Belgrade Mountaineering Association; at that time a length of 4240 meters was determined; according to what was known at the time, it became the longest cave in Serbia. There were plans to open up the cave for tourism, for which parts of the entrance were expanded with explosives.
For a long time, the cave was considered completely explored, until in 1995 members of the student cave and alpine club ASAK discovered a side passage, whereupon the total length had to be corrected to 5190 meters. The depth of the cave was measured to be 173. Another exploration in October 1999 found a length of 6025 meters and a depth of 176 meters. More corridors were only discovered in 2015 and 2017. It became known that the river Kravljansko vrelo flows through the cave, and the length of the cave known today was established. In the future it will be investigated whether the cave is connected to a shaft, namely the Cerjanka propast .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dobro došli u Cerjanku. In: PTC, Serbian radio and television. July 21, 2013, accessed November 30, 2018 .
- ↑ Cerjanska pećina. In: Student Alpine and Cave Club, ASAK. Retrieved November 30, 2018 .
Coordinates: 43 ° 25 ′ 48.5 ″ N , 21 ° 56 ′ 23.4 ″ E