State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic Slovak Caves Administration
Štátna ochrana prírody
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Medvedia Cave

The cave was discovered in 1952 and is one of our most important and richest palaeontologickal locations.

It is situated in the Slovak Paradise on the SE edge of the Glac Plateau, about 300 m above the present level of the Biely Brook. Entrance is situated at elevation of 905 m. by now, 497 m cave spaces with vertical span of 30 m were discovered and documented.

The cave can be characterized by horizontal passages of large dimensions, up to 14 m wide and from 2,5 m to 17 m high. Flowstone floor fill forming cascade rimstone dams is well developed here. Pole stalagmites up to 3 m high and of 5 to 12 cm diameter are well developed here. Colours are very varied in the cave. Cave sediments have flowstone material and fragments of light ochre fine-grained sandstone with parts of limonite concretions. Fluvial sediments are represented widely and consist of gravels, loams, sands with clay ingredients. Pebbles of Palaeogene sandstones are also present in the cave though of allochthonous origin.

Inside the cave, there were many skeleton remains of cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), mostly found in the loamy sediments. The age was dated to more than 15,000 years. The main factor for creation of cave spaces was the underground water course flowing in from WS direction in the depth of 40 to 80 m below the plateau level.

Nine bat species used to winter in the cave. The most abundant are the Greater Mouse-Eared Bat (Myotis myotis) and Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) and also the Geoffroy's bat (Myotis emarginatus). Crustaceans are represented by troglophilic isopod (Isopoda) Mesoniscus graniger. The most numerous are mites (Acarina) like troglophilic mites Parasitus loricatus and Gemmazetes cavatica. The entrance part occupies a troglophilic spider Meta menardi. Also troglophilic multipede Allorhiscosoma sphinx and rare ground beetle – Duvalius bokori are found here. The cave is a space of the first description of occurrence of the troglobitic springtail Arrhopalites aggtelekiensis and tiny depigmented spider Porrhomma campbeli in Slovakia. In summer the cave is visited by many flies and mosquitos. Regularly also the butterfly species Scoliopteryx libatrix and Triphosa dubiata winter in the cave.

News

Card payment - recommendation

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.

Demänovská jaskyňa slobody - long tour reopened from 1st July 2024

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. 

15. vedecká konferencia: "Výskum, využívanie a ochrana jaskýň" / 15th scientific conference "Research, utilization and protection of caves"

Konanie: 24.- 26. september 2024. Bližšie informácie o tomto podujatí nájdete na odkaze.

The conference will be held from September 24 to 26, 2024 in Liptovský Mikuláš. More on the link.

Cave visit with small children

Dear visitors, due to increased visitation of parents with very small children (circa up to 3 - 4 years of age), we would like to kindly ask you to have a rucksack baby carrier with you for visiting the more demanding caves in given time. This recommendation concerns all caves but the most concerned are the following ones: Demänovská Cave of Liberty, Belianska Cave, Dobšinská Ice Cave, Demänovská Ice Cave, Harmanecká Cave. We also ask you to consider visiting the cave with your crying child, which could disturb the other visitors. Thank you for understanding and we wish you a nice experience.

Cave tour guides for download

Dear visitors, cave tour guides are available for download

Partner

Správa jeskyní České republikyInternational Year of Caves and KarstHabakukyZajo