Postojna Cave

These are the pictures I took without flash

Postojna Cave in western Slovenia is a 20-kilometre (12-mile) labyrinth of subterranean passages, filled with fantastical stalagmites, stalactites and other weird and wonderful rock formations. It is considered by experts to be one of the finest examples of karst landscape, where limestone rock has been heavily eroded to form underground streams, a phenomenon that has created several other caves in this area of Slovenia. Postojna Cave is also home to the Proteus Anguinus, a unique creature with no eyes, which can grow up to 30cm (1foot) in length and feeds on snails and worms.

The Concert Hall, formerly known as the Ballroom The hall was renamed after the World Speleological Conference was held there. Shortly after the cave was opened to the public in 1819, dances were held in the hall at Whitsuntide. On these occasions the hall was brightly lit and decked out with festive decorations; when the railway came to Postojna in 1857 special trains brought holidaymakers to the cave.

Great Mountain The train journey ends under Great Mountain, also known as Calvary, an underground hill 45 meters high at the junction of three galleries. Multilingual tourist guides now invite visitors to continue on foot.  Here a world begins to open up before your eyes, a world which the British sculptor Henry Moore described, in his enthusiasm, as “Nature’s most wonderful gallery”. And he was right; all around you the most fantastic stone forms.

Russian Bridge To begin with you cross the Russian Bridge, built by Russian prisoners during the First World War and spanning a deep chasm, and pass into the Beautiful Caves, a name that can only hint at the beauties they conceal.

Beautiful caves All the time, and from all sides, you hear the echoes of the metronome of time: an eternal dripping, quiet but never-ending—now with tiny splashes into rocky pans of water, now with a gentle patter onto the tips of stalagmites, where every tiny droplet leaves a trace of calcareous sinter.  This has been going on for two million years, for that is the age of the cave itself. At a certain point during every visit the cave guides turn off the lights for half a minute or so: total darkness descends, and the underground worlds echo all around. It is like being at the end of the world and the beginning of a universal mystery.

Cuckoo In addition to the spraying and flowing of water, which are the only natural sounds in the cave, the hollow stalactite formation surprises us with a sound similar to that of a cuckoo. This is the reason for the name Cuckoo, which the cave guide will ‘play’.

The Diamond The Diamond, which is so beautiful that the cave administration chose it for its symbol, radiates purely and eternally, not distinguishing night from day, or seasons from years and centuries. The temperature is also constant as well. Only when there are heavy and lengthy rains outside, some of the nervousness dribbles in here, while the metronome of time sounds in a more vivacious way and the dampness increases.

The "Human Fish" Another unique feature of the Cave is the “human fish”, proteus anguinus, a creature adapted to the eternal subterranean darkness. The human fish is up to 30 centimetres long and has no eyes—it does not need them. It has no protective pigment either, and its skin is a similar color to that of Caucasian human beings—hence the creature’s name.  The human fish is sometimes swept out onto the surface, when the underground waters are high. Long ago people believed it was a baby dragon, since it came from the underworld. For 200 years it has been one of the main attractions here, and even features on Slovenia’s coins.  Animals which are exposed to the light slowly turn brown — like people exposed to the sun; in one part of the Slovenian karst human fish have been found that are completely black and have functioning eyes, suggesting that they regularly come to the surface, perhaps to look for food. Interest in the human fish and the later discovery of a special cave beetle also adapted to life in total darkness led, just under 200 years ago, to the creation of a special branch of scientific study: speleobiology, the study of creatures living in caves, began in Postojna and still has its center in Slovenia.  Over 200 different species of cave creature have been discovered to date; proteus anguinus is by far the largest of all of them, and the most interesting.

The Concert Hall The giant Concert Hall can hold up to 10,000 visitors. From time to time concerts are given here by world-famous maestros; Pietro Mascagni and the great Enrico Caruso are among the performers who have appeared here in the past. These days the hall host concerts by various ensembles, including philharmonic orchestras and the famous Slovenian Octet.  The acoustics are marvelous and the visible and invisible spaces send back so many echoes in so many different ways that they render the music infinitely voluminous, alternately mystical, passionately roaring, and solemn; completely unsuitable for recording, but for listening, almost ritually religious. Because of its monumental dimensions the hall is one of the most important chambers in Postojna Cave.

Exit    Be that as it may, the journey through Postojna Cave is approaching its end, and we are gradually beginning to feel the outside temperature—warm in summer, cold in winter. In the cave itself the temperature remains at a constant 10 degrees Celsius (52 degrees F). Finally, we catch a glimpse of daylight.

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