Škocjan Caves

Škocjan Caves

Škocjan Caves is a cave system in Slovenia. The Reka River disappears underground at Big Collapse Doline (Slovene: Velika Dolina) into Škocjan Caves and then flows underground for 34 km surfacing near Monfalcone where it contributes approximately one third of the flow of the Timavo River, which flows 2 kilometers from the Timavo Springs to the Adriatic Sea. Explored length of caves is 6,200 m, caves have formed in 300 m thick layer of Cretaceous and Paleocene limestone.

Škocjan Caves was entered on UNESCO’s list of natural and cultural world heritage sites in 1986.

History

The first written sources on Škocjan Caves originate in2nd century B.C. by Posidonius of Apamea and they are marked on the oldest published maps of this part of the world. The Carniolan scholar Johann Weikhard von Valvasor ( Janez Vajkard Valvasor ) described the sink of the Reka River and its underground flow in 1689.

Turism

There is about 100,000 visitors per year. The firs part was opened in 1933. It was severely damaged in a flood in 1963. In 2011, it was renovated and a new steel bridge was added.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0kocjan_Caves
http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/
https://www.sloveniaholidays.com/park-skocjanske-jame-divaca.html

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