State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic
Slovak Caves Administration
The glamour and mystery of our World Natural Heritage can be admired only by visitors of show caves. From among the fifteen classically or touristically opened caves in Slovakia (except for the Bojnická Castle Cave which is a part of the castle tour) six caves are included in the World Natural Heritage (Dobšinská Ice Cave, Domica Cave, Gombasecká Cave, Jasovská Cave, Krásnohorská Cave and Ochtinská Aragonite Cave).
Other caves and abysses of the world heritage are not open to the public. Many of them are hardly accessible. Only experienced cavers and speleoalpinists with the help of roping technique or by demanding climbing or crawling can enter them. Some parts of cave with water siphons or flooded parts are accessible only by speleodivers.
Brief characteristics of show caves in the world heritage is a kind of an invitation to visit them. Following is the basic characteristic of other national nature monuments – wild caves and abysses of the World Natural Heritage.
The caves of the Slovak and Aggtelek Karst were inscribed on the World Natural and Cultural Heritage list of the UNESCO on the basis of a bilateral nomination Slovak-Hungarian project in 1995, which was approved by the World Heritage Committee in Berlin on December 4 – 9, 1995. This project was extended by the Dobšinská Ice Cave in 2000 and approved on the Committee session in Cairns during November 27- December 2, 2000.
The caves of the Slovak Karst now represent the only natural phenomenon inscribed on this list.
They present an exceptional example of ongoing geological processes and significant geomorphic features. The representativeness and exceptionality of underground karst forms of the Slovak and Aggtelek Karst resides in the following facts.
The area has many kinds of genetic and morphological types of caves in a relative closeness. The most frequent are the river (so called fluviokarst) caves, flown through by water courses at present or in the past, having usually the signs of river modelling and corrosion (e.g. ceiling channels and scallops in Domica and Gombasecká Cave) as well as corrosive spaces formed by chemical solution of limestone by percolation or stagnant karst waters (e.g. abysses Zvonivá jama, Malá and Veľká žomboj, Malá and Veľká bikfa, Brázda, Obrovská priepasť), caves with vertical corrosion walls and planated ceilings, corrosion cupolas, inclined side walls (Ochtinská Aragonite Cave). Distinct fault passages (Krásnohorská Cave) or crevasse spaces (Čertova diera, Snežná diera) are not so frequent.
There are not many karst areas with so many representative types of dripstone decoration as the Slovak Karst. Soda straws in the Gombasecká Cave reaching as much as 3 m are unique. World known are flowstone shields and drums in the Domica Cave as well as the aragonite crystals in the Ochtinská Aragonite Cave. Except for them, there are many shapes of stalactites (including rarer spheric ones in Domica), stalagmites (pagoda type in Domica, mighty pagodas in Zvonivá jama, stick stalagmites in the Ardovská Cave, palm one in Domica), columns (32 m high dripstone in the Krásnohorská Cave), flowstone curtains (Milada, Domica), coatings, pea forms (Brázda Abyss), flowstone cascades (Rhoman Spa in Domica), lacustrine forms (Diviačia priepasť), moonmilk (Gombasecká Cave, Šingliarka Abyss) and eccentric shapes (Hrušovská Cave). Two caves with permanent ice fill are integrated: Dobšinská Ice Cave, with 110,132 m3 of ice and Silická ľadnica, with elevation of 503 m as the lowest one in the temperate climatic zone. Ice fill occurs also in the Snežná jama.
The karst phenomena are connected with more than 1,000 caves concentrated within the area of about 400 square km. Another 200 square km are on the Hungarian side. Such a density connected with high representativeness does not occur on other part of the temperate climatic zone.
The numerous karst cavities together with favourable climatic conditions determined also the variety of underground animals, especially invertebrates. Since the environment of troglobitic (or cavernicolous) animals is limited by space, many endemic species known only from this place evolved here. Such is the tiny crustacean (Niphargus aggtelekiensis), pseudoscorpion Neobisium (Blothrus) slovacum or small beetles Duvalius szilicensis and Duvalius bokori. Ardovská and Domica Cave have invertebras like palpigrade Eukoenenia spelea or multipede Typhloiulus sp.
A valuable group of cave animals are bats. Important wintering places include the caves Domica (mainly Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Rh. hipposideros, Rh. euryale and Myotis emarginatus), Jasovská Cave, Drieňovská Cave, Čertova diera, Dobšinská Ice Cave (mainly rare Myotis mystacinus/brandtii) and others. The caves offer habitats for more than 500 species of genuine cave animals (troglobites).
Caves representing the development of several cultures are known from the territory of the Slovak and Aggtelek Karst. Especially valuable are the traces of human activities of the Bukk-Mountain Culture in Domica (with preserved potter workshop, traces after mining the clay, imprint of fabric, findings of pottery, bone needle and many other artefacts and cave drawings), in the Ardovská Cave and in the Silická ľadnica Cave. Especially worthful are preserved cult masks made of human skull of the Kyjatice Culture found in the Majda-Hraškova Cave and Babská diera Cave. Many objects were found in other caves coming from the Iron Age, Halstadt Age or from the Middle Ages. Very valuable is also the historical Hussite inscription on the wall in the Jasovská Cave.
The legislature of the Slovak Republic has several measures concerning the caves on the world heritage list:
Human and material resources are provided by the state through the vocational organization – the Slovak Caves Administration and before also the State Nature Conservation. The most important management activities with highest financial contributions were aimed at:
The monitoring of influences on cave spaces and ecosystems is realized by the Slovak Caves Administration especially in the most valuable and vulnerable caves. The following activities were realized:
The main risk factors potentially threatening the unity of caves and their ecosystems are:
Dear visitors, we would like to inform you that due to the technical conditions of payment terminals, there may be situations when card payment will not be possible. For this reason, we recommend that you have an adequate amount of cash available if you want to be sure that you will be able to visit the cave. Thank you for understanding.
Dear visitors,
after a longer period we reopen the long tour in the Demänovska Cave of Liberty from the 1st of July 2024. The tour is open once a day at 13:15 from June to August (3 months) and at 13:00 during the rest of the opening days. Number of visitors is limited, the tour is demanding, with many steps and it takes more than one and a half hours. Cave temperature is around 7°C whole year round. We are looking forward to your visit.
