Škocjan Caves
| Škocjan Caves | |
|---|---|
UNESCO world heritage 
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| National territory: |
 Slovenia
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| Type: | nature |
| Criteria : | vii, viii |
| Surface: | 413 ha |
| Reference No .: | 390 |
| UNESCO region : | Europe and North America |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 1986 (session 10) |
The Škocjan Caves (Slovenian: Škocjanske jame , Italian: Grotte di San Canziano , German: Caves of St. Kanziano ) are a system of caves near the Slovene district of Škocjan (German St. Kanzian ) in the Divača municipality , about 20 km east of Trieste and 4 km south of the Gabrk motorway triangle on the A1 (Ljubljana – Koper) and A3 (Divaca – Trieste). In 1986 they were added to the list of World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO .
Description of the caves
Location, geology and structure
The Škocjan Caves are located in the Lower Carniola Karst region at an altitude of around 420 to 450 m. The limestone is loosened by rainwater and rivers . There are caves and sinkholes - large funnels in the landscape. In the first section of the limestone layers, the Reka (which is also the Slovenian word for river ) flows above ground through a 4 km long gorge. A few 100,000 years ago, cave ceilings collapsed over the river. This created the collapse dolines Great Valley ( Velika dolina , 165 m deep) and Small Valley ( Mala dolina , 120 m deep). In the bottom of the Great Valley, the Reka finally seeps away. The caves themselves consist of the Okroglica, the Rushing Cave ( Šumeča jama ), the Hanke Canal ( Hankejev Canal ), the Martel Hall ( Martelova dvorana ) and the Zaliti Canal, among others. In addition, the Silent Cave ( Tiha jama ), the Tominc Cave ( Tominčeva jama ) and the Schmidl Hall are part of the cave system, the corridors of which are 6 km long. The height difference between the highest entrance (okroglica) and the lowest point ( siphon ) is 205 m. The largest hall is the Martelhalle with a length of 308 m, a height of up to 146 m and a maximum width of 123 m. It has a volume of 2.1 million m³.
The Reka River
The caves were created by the karst river Reka . The Reka collects its water on an impermeable flysch rock layer. In front of the ponors it has an average of 9 m³ and up to 390 m³ per second. During high tide, the river level in the cave usually rises to over 30 m, the largest flood to date, which was triggered by the temporary closure of the siphon , brought a level of 132 m. When the water floods, the river carries with it large quantities of clay, which are deposited in the cave and have given the stalactites a brown color. From the Škocjan Caves, the river flows about 35 km underground to the sources of Timavo in Italy . The course is largely unknown. Before the Pleistocene, the Reka probably flowed above ground over the karst landscape to the Adriatic Sea . Gradually, the river seeped away as the limestone dissolved underground and gradually created the caves and collapse dolines.
Flora and fauna
The special microclimatic conditions in the soles of the sinkholes allow cold-loving plants to flourish. These include the auricles ( Primula auricula ), crusty saxifrage ( Saxifraga crustata ). Higher up there grow heat-loving plants such as Venus hair ( Adianthum capillus-veneris ) and red- fruited juniper ( Juniperus oxycedrus ) because of the warm air flowing out of the cave openings .
Rock pigeons ( Clumba livia ), Alpine swifts ( Tachymarptis melba ), eagle owls ( Bubo bubo ), peregrine falcons ( Falco peregrinus ) and common ravens ( Corvus corax ) can be found in the Great and Small Valleys . Three species of bats live in the caves. They are the long-winged bat ( Miniopterus Schreiberski ), the long-footed bat ( Myotis capacinii ) and the great horseshoe bat ( Rhinolopus ferrumequinum ).
Historical overview
Archaeological studies confirm that the caves were inhabited since the Mesolithic . The oldest surviving written evidence comes from antiquity. Posidonius of Apamea (135–50 BC) writes that the Timavus river gushes out of a mountain, plunges into a cave and, after about 130 stages underground, springs from the sea.
The caves are also shown on the map by Lazius-Ortelius (1561) and in the Mercators Novus Atlas (1637). They were first made accessible to visitors around 1800 and a guest book was introduced in 1819. In the 19th century, researchers began exploring related to the city of Trieste's drinking water supply . Ivan Svetina (1839/40) and Adolf Schmidl (1851/52) led the first research groups. In 1884 the caves were given lease to the cave research department of the section of the German-Austrian Alpine Club. The systematic exploration of the caves began under the direction of Anton Hanke , Josip Marinitsch and Friedrich Müller and with the help of locals. In 1890 the Martelhalle and the banks of the Dead Lake were discovered. The last major discovery was that of the silent cave by locals (1904). It was not until September 1991 that cave divers Janko Brajnik and Samo Morel managed to swim through the siphon in Lake Marchesetti and to reach further corridors.
Sightseeing route
The sightseeing route designed for tourists leads through part of the caves. It begins with a 116 m long tunnel artificially created in 1933, which leads from the Globočak collapse doline into the silent cave. First of all, numerous sinter formations can be seen in Paradise ( Paradiž ) before the visitor reaches a collapse hall with clay and sand deposits as well as fallen stones. The passage leads through the labyrinth into the Great Hall ( Velika dvorana ). Numerous stalactites have formed here. The largest of the stalagmites reaches a height of 15 meters and is named The Giant . After the organ hall, named after an organ-like stalactite formation, the roar of the Reka can be heard for the first time as it flows through the Rushing Cave. The path leads over the Cerkvenik Bridge, which crosses the river at a height of 45 m before it squeezes through the Hanke Canal. A high water mark had been placed about ten meters above the bridge beforehand , which marks the water level when the flood occurred on September 2, 1965. Through the Müller and Svetinahalle, the visitor reaches the lowest point of the path, 150 m below the surface. You continue up to the hall of the sinter basin and through the Schmidlhalle you reach the Great Valley, in which the Reka flows above ground for the last time. Finally, a funicular takes visitors out of the Great Valley back to the visitor center, or you can alternatively take the route over the Tominz grotto with the Kraus fountain. An older visitor's path led deeper into the Rushing Cave before the construction of the Cerkvenik Bridge, but was often no longer accessible during floods. Tours through the caves lasting around 1¾ hours are carried out several times a day.
The area around the Great and Small Valleys is designated as the Škocjanske jame park. A circular route with the visitor center as the start and finish is laid out as a nature trail, boards provide information about the nature of the area and the route also leads to viewpoints that allow a view into the collapsed dolines and cave openings. The circular route also includes the villages of Matavun, Škocjan and Betanja as well as a museum.
International significance
Not least because of their inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List , the caves have become a globally recognized value. In 1996 the legal basis for the Škocjanske jame regional park was created. An institution under public law now takes care of the protection, maintenance, research and image of the park. The Škocjan Caves are one of the main tourist attractions in the country.
Web links
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
- www.park-skocjanske-jame.si - Official website (Slovenian / English / German)
Coordinates: 45 ° 39 ′ 44 ″ N , 13 ° 59 ′ 18 ″ E
Cultural heritage: Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps (2011) | Historic sites of mercury extraction: Almadén and Idrija (2012)
Natural heritage: Škocjan Caves (1986) | Old beech forests and primeval beech forests of the Carpathian Mountains and other regions of Europe (2017)