Postojna Cave, Slovenia

Postojna Cave is near Postojna, southwestern Slovenia. It is one of the largest cave systems in Europe.

June 2015 Postojna Cave system reached a new length. It is now officially 24,120 m (79,130 ft) long. Cave divers have extended the mapped area of the cave through an underwater section.

Only about 5.3 kilometers, 3.3 miles of the Postojna Cave system are open to the public.

Postojna Cave was carved by the Pivka River.

It is a spectacular cave with miles of corridors, chambers  and grottoes decorated with stalactites, stalagmites and cave draperies.

Cave Animals

The Endemic Olm

The Endemic Olm is the largest troglodytic amphibian in the world. They live in Postojna Cave.  It is also called the human fish because its skin is supposed to look like human skin. It’s actually not a fish, it is an amphibian. It is supposed to live up to 100 years. It can survive up to 10 years without food.

These are no doubt the baby dragons Valvosar wrote about in 1689.

Slender-Necked Beetle

In 1831, Luka Čeč, the first tour guide discovered a single new cave beetle, Leptodirus hohenwarti. It has a thin neck, tiny head, puffed abdomen, and long antennae and legs. It was 14 years before a second one was found.

Postojna Cave History

Valvasor’s Pioneering Karst Research in the late 1600s

Postojna Cave is located in Kras, or Karst, a region of Slovenia. This plateau stretches from southwestern Slovenia into northeastern Italy.

Geologists use the word “karst” to describe any terrain characterized by barren, rocky ground where erosion produces caves, sinkholes and underground streams and lakes. It was named after the Karst Plateau area because of the pioneering research by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor in the late 1600s.

Johann Weikhard Freiherr von Valvasor presented an exhaustive treatise on the hydrology of the intermittent Lake Cerknica to the Royal Society.  Lake Cerknica is an intermittent lake in Southwestern Slovenia. It can be a 20 feet deep, 10 square mile lake, then completely disappear. It may remain dry for several years, then   suddenly return. Originally a historian, Valvasor explored and described Postojna Cave when he researched the area for his history book The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola.

Early 1800s, the Golden Era of Cave Tourism

In the spring of 1818, a local man, Luka Čeč, discovered a spectacular new corridor of the Postojna Cave. This was the beginning of what is still a flourishing cave tourist industry. He became the first official tourist guide.

By 1819, Archduke Ferdinand, the Austrian heir to the throne visited the caves as the first official guest. Visitors followed from all over the world.

The cave was made more accessible with paths and signs in various languages. By 1872, rails were added to allow visitors to ride through the caves. At first the guides pushed the little cars on the tracks, then a gas locomotive was added, replaced by an electric one in 1945.

Electric lighting was added in 1884. This really helped popularize the cave.

A bridge was built across the Pivka River to cross the Great Hall.

World War II

During World War II, a large section of the cave was destroyed when aircraft fuel stored by Nazi forces burned.

Now

Expo Postojna Cave Karst

EXPO Postojna Cave Karst opened In 2014. It is an interactive educational museum with exhibits about karst, caves and the environment that makes them.  It follows the history of cave tourism. The museum has an aquarium with Endemic Olms and an interactive display for children on the Slender-Neck Beetle.

Postojna Cave has the world’s only underground post office.