Melissani (cave)
Melissani ( Greek Σπήλαιο Μελισσάνης Spíleo Melissánis ) is a cave with a lake near the village of Sami on the Greek island of Kefalonia . In addition to the nearby Drogarati Cave , it is one of the two stalactite caves on the island.
history
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The lake in the grotto was a place of worship of the shepherd god Pan in ancient times , as numerous finds on the bottom show. These can be seen in the Archaeological Museum in Argostoli. Below is a tablet from the 3rd century BC. With the oldest surviving evidence of the word nymphomania . The cave is mentioned in literature in the novel Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières .
The cave is 160 m long, 45 m wide and 36 m deep. In 1963 Austrian geologists were finally able to solve the "phenomenon of the sea mills of Argostoli ". As early as 1870, Karl Werner Maximilian Wiebel, a Hamburg geology professor, pointed out the physical principle of communicating tubes and carried out scientific studies on site. The seawater flowing inland mixes with groundwater and ends up in the lake of the grotto, where it then evaporates. In the 1960s, a tunnel was dug to the edge of the lake to make the cave accessible to visitors.
Attractions
Melissani is one of the main attractions on the island. Visitors are taken through the cave on row boats, with most of the daylight falling through the collapsed ceiling at lunchtime. The grotto is open from spring to late autumn, from 9 a.m. to sunset.
literature
- Karl Werner Maximilian Wiebel: The island of Kephalonia and the sea mills of Argostoli. Attempt to solve this geophysical riddle . Hamburg 1873 ( digitized version of the British Library)
Web links
- Franz Lindenmayr: Website lochstein.de about the cave
Individual evidence
- ↑ Maria Gazzetti: The love attack: “il dolce assalto”, of nymphs, satyrs and forests . Literature magazine, issue 32. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1993, p. 46
Coordinates: 38 ° 15 ′ 25.2 ″ N , 20 ° 37 ′ 25 ″ E