Važecká Cave

Važecká Cave is situated in Važecký Karst between Liptovský Mikuláš and Poprad and its entrance can be found 784 m above sea level. It is horizontal and reaches a length of 530 m, of which 235 m have been made accessible. The underground passages are decorated mainly by flowstone feathers, stalactites, stalagmites, pillars and cascade pools. Remarkable formations include tilted stalactites and miniature flowstone bowls on top of stalactitic waterfalls and stalagmites. Small ponds with water temperatures ranging from 5.5 to 7.1°C can also be found.

Važecká is one of Slovakia’s most significant paleontologic sites. Cave bear bones (Ursus spelaeus) were found in Kostnica and other parts of the cave. Sporadic occurrences of the Greater Mouse-eared Bat (Myotis myotis), the Barbastella Bat (Barbastella barbastellus) and the Whiskered Bat (Myotis mystacinus) have also been recorded. Organisms living here have adapted to the living conditions in underground caverns (darkness, constant lower temperature, high air humidity, etc.) by reducing their visual organs, by depigmentation, changing their size and shape as well as by other modifications to their physiognomic features and life functions. Of note is one of the cave’s invertebrate inhabitants, palpigrade Eukoenenia spelaea. This is the most northern occurrence of this arachnid ever recorded and owing to its presence Važecká Cave is included amongst the bio-speleological locations of European significance. Eight species of the springtail (primitive wingless insect) have also been observed in the cave, two of which are the troglobionts, Deuteraphorura kratochvili and Pseudosinella paclti, both of which are endemic to the West Carpathian area.

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The openings to the underground caverns to the south of Važec village have been known to its inhabitants for generations. They used to call them the Holes under the Hills. The mention of a further sinkhole in Priepadlá, swallowing water which then wells forth in Važec, was recorded by Matthias Bel in his Notitia as early as 1735. The Važecká Cave itself was discovered by a Slovak native, Ondrej A. Húska, and the first records of the cave’s discovery were filed and published at the end of August 1922 by F. Havránek, an academic painter.

The cave was first officially opened in 1934, but was available only during the peak season, and the tours were conducted by the light of carbide lamps. The cave’s passages also served as a hiding place for guerrilla fighters during the Second World War. In the post-war period the equipment of the cave deteriorated and so refurbishment was commissioned on 1 May, 1954. Fourteen years later Važecká Cave was declared a protected natural formation. Further parts of the cave system were discovered in March 1997 and its total known length grew to 530 m.

More info: www.ssj.sk

How to get there:

Car
300km from Bratislava take direction Poprad and take exit Važec

Bus/Train
www.cp.sk – stop Važec

Lietadlom
www.skyeurope.com – Bratislava/Poprad
www.ryanair.com – Bratislava

Accommodation
www.slovakia.travel.sk

By SJJ
Photo: Ing. M. Rengevič

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