State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic Slovak Caves Administration
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Zápoľná Cave

Fourteen metres deep cave was discovered during preparatory field work for the dam in 1939 – 1941. It is located under a steep limestone cliff Zápoľná, on the right hand side of the Čierny Váh valley close to the Svarín settlement. The entrance is at elevation of 755 m, 50 m above the bottom of the valley.

The Zápoľná Cave is formed in a rather narrow belt of Gutenstein limestones belonging to the White Váh series of the Choč Nappe. These aim to the northeast to the Kozie chrbty Hills and Važecký karst. New cave spaces were discovered by the caving group from Liptovský Mikuláš in 1997 and 1998. Thus the cave reached the length of 1,721 m with vertical span of 59 m.

The cave spaces represent a complicated labyrinth of passages and shafts, formed by corrosion activities of water connected with collapses and breakdowns of underground cavities. The cave is characteristic by oval and irregularly modelled spaces without signs of river modelling. Their origin was conditioned by slow water circulation and stagnation. The lowest parts of the cave comprise deep water siphons reaching under the level of Čierny Váh river, and their water level doesn’t coincide with the changes in the surface river.

The sedimentary cave fills are formed of loam, somewhere fine sand and debris. Frost weathering is boldly apparent in its entrance parts. By now no typical cave animals were found in this cave including bats, also due to little investigations in this field.

The Zápoľná Cave presents a typical example of corrosive cave formed in deeper zone of stagnant underground water.

News

Domica closed

Dear visitors, the Domica Cave is provisionally closed from 17 to 21 April 2025 due to malfunction in electrical installation. We will inform you about changes. Thank you for your understanding.

Domica zatvorená

Vážení návštevníci, jaskyňa Domica je predbežne v dňoch 17. - 21.4.2025 z dôvodu poruchy na elektrickej inštalácii zatvorená. O prípadných zmenách Vás budeme informovať. Ďakujeme za pochopenie.

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.

Parking at Demänovská Cave of Liberty

Dear visitors, the parking lot doesn't belong to cave administration. The fees are collected by different entity. Thank you for your understanding.

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.

Partner

Správa jeskyní České republikyInternational Show Caves AssociationHabakukyZajo