State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic
Slovak Caves Administration
The cave is in the Liptovský Mikuláš district, in the territory of Liptovský Ján. The entrance is on the northwestern slope of Smrekovica in the Low Tatras National Park at elevation of 761 m, and 39 m below the level of Štiavnica Brook. The cave is genetically related with Malá Stanišovská Cave (840 m) and Nová Stanišovská Cave (2,334 m), which entrance is located in the slope across the valley.
The Stanišovská Cave belongs among the oldest known caves in Liptov region and in Slovakia. The entrance was known from time immemorial. It was the first time surveyed and measured by J. Bucholtz jr. in 1720, however described was only by Matej Bel in 1723. Further spaces were discovered in 1922 to 1950 by volunteer cavers from Liptovský Mikuláš and surrounding.
The cave was formed by erosion and corrosion activities of the underground stream of Štiavnica with the help of atmospheric waters and processes of rock crumbling and collapsing of weathered material along the tectonic faults and interbed surfaces in the Pleistocene and Holocene. The general direction of the cave is N-S. The flowstone fill of the cave is considerably destroyed mainly in the easily accessible parts.
The cave has two developmental levels, the lower one is about 25 m below the flow of Štiavnica. The temperature in cave is from 6,4 °C to 7,0 °C. Air humidity reaches 95%.
The lower level forms a horizontal passage with irregular profile with a debris of sharp fragments of the bedrock on the floor. The bedrock is of Middle Triassic Gutenstein limestones of the Biely Váh series of the Choč Nappe. Some parts of this passage have flowstone cascades and lakes on cave bottom. The upper level has cave fills in various forms and shapes, with abundant stick stalagmites.
The Stanišovská Cave is together with nearby Malá Stanišovská Cave the most important wintering place for bats in the Jánska Valley. Seven species were found her by now. The most abundant is the Greater Mouse-Eared Bat (Myotis myotis). Occurrence of cave isopod Mesoniscus graniger, and troglophilic terrestric crustacean from the isopod group (Isopoda) were recorded from the cave entrance. Cave springtails live directly in the cave – like Pseudosinella paclti, Arrhopalites pygmaeus and multipede Allorhiscosoma sphinx. The cave is known also by palaeontological discoveries like cave bear bones and archaeological research confirmed traces of Middle Age settlement.
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.
