myMagazine
MAMiMagazine
Postojna
CAVE
by Mihaela Nicoleta Micula
Katja Dolenc Batagelj: Executive Manager
for Marketing, Postojna Cave, Slovenia
Postojna Cave is the best-known cave in the world. It is also
the greatest tourist attraction in Slovenia and one of the
world’s largest karst monuments. 21 km of passages, galleries
and magnificent halls offer a unique experience of the underground world. The Postojna cave is definitely one of the most
diverse cave systems in the world.
The entrance portions of the cave must have seen their first
visitors in the 13th century, but the largest part of its interior
was discovered on 14 April 1818 by the local cave lamplighter
Luka ?e?. During preparations for the Austrian emperor’s visit,
he wandered off from the group of workers in charge of the
ceremonial decoration and illumination of the front part of the
cave with the Great Hall. Climbing a wall, he found a so far unknown passage. When he returned, he cried out to his friends:
“There’s a new world here, a paradise!” In 1819 Archduke Ferdinand I visited the cave and became the first official visitor. This
gave rise to the tourism in Postojna and this date is considered
the official start of modern cave tourism although signatures
dated from the 13th century can be found in the cave. For 140
years, the Postojna Cave, as the only cave in the world, offers
a unique and adventurous ride with a special train, which will
take you into the cave, under spectacular underground arches,
which are embellished with chandellier look-alike stalactites,
through a beautiful subterranean world full of playful limestone sculptures.
A fantastic web of tunnels, passages, galleries and halls, the
astonishing diversity of Karst features as well as easy access
are certainly the main reasons for such popularity of the cave
and a large number of visitors, which has already reached 35
million in 200 years. Electric lighting, the first in the province
of Carniola, was temporarily arranged in 1883 during a visit
from Emperor Franz Joseph. Three electric lights lit up the
Great Hall. The next year, Postojna Cave became the third cave
in the world to have permanent electric lighting (a year earlier
MAMi Magazine 68
electric lighting was set up in the Kraushöhle cave in Austrian
Styria and even earlier, in 1881, in Luray Caverns, USA). The
cave was illuminated by 12 arc lamps, each with the power
of 1400 candles. Electricity was supplied by two generators
powered by a steam engine. The electric installation system
was modernised in 1901. A new engine house supplied power
to the cave as well as the whole town of Postojna. Today, classic bulbs have been mostly replaced by halogen bulbs. An
electronic system makes sure only certain cave sections are lit
up at one time and the power lines are, like most lights in the
cave, discretely covered.
The tour of the cave, which lasts approximately 90 minutes, will
take you on a 5 km long journey through amazing passages
and incredibly diverse cave ‘landscape’. The visitors can see one
part of a scenic underground maze from the train, and then
enjoy the second part on foot and admire playful stalactite
forms in no hurry. The most beautiful stalagmite in the Postojna cave is called the Brilliant. Looking at this marvellous, shiny
white limestone formation, you simply must agree it is fully
worthy of its name.
Owing to its early discoveries, Postojna is regarded as the
cradle of the scientific discipline of speleobiology, which sets
it apart as an undisputed world centre. The unusual looks of
the olm have always sparked peoples imagination. At first it
was believed that they were just baby dragons which the high
tide brought to the surface. As a matter of fact, there might be
some truth to these old beliefs. Apart from the olm, there are
many other animal species living in the Postojna cave. 99 species are permanent residents of the cave, but occasionally the
number of species rises up to 150.