Location: Lož Valley Map
Discovered: 1832
Length: 8.27 km
Depth: 32 m
Tel. +386 41 632 153
Email: krizna_jama@yahoo.com
Official site
Križna Cave or Cross Cave is located in Lož Valley in South- Eastern Slovenia.Name of Križna Cave is translated as a Cross Cave in Slovenian and was named in honor of Church of Holy Church in nearby village of Podlož. The cave was discovered in 1832, but it was fully explored only in 1926. Cross Cavehas a total length of 8.27 km and reaches a depth of 32 meters. It contains over 50 underground caves with clear blue water and magnificent geological formations of stalagmites and stalactites. Over 44 different species were discovered within its walls making it one of the most biodiversity underground systems in the World. Later archaeological digs discovered bones of the cave bears that once lived here. The cave system is open to the public. You can get a boat ride for an hour across largest caves or you can take a longer four hour ride across first 13 lakes. However the second longer trip has a limited amount of people that it can take along. The passages are very narrow and boats are fairly small. You have to call or write to reserve this ride to make sure you get it.
The Cave of the Cross was first described in 1832,
and the water part, which is also the most beautiful, is the
Slovenian cavesIt was only after 1926 that they were explored. At
Calvary, which is also the most striking part of the Cave of the
Cross, the cave is divided into the northern Blato tunnel and the
northeastern Pisani tunnel. The main part of the Blato tunnel is
less interesting because of its modest sigma formations, with its
capstone forms only rich in its extreme north end. The colorful
trench, accessible only by boats, is more interesting because of the
underground lakes and the richly built down halls. He is joined by
Matjaž's tunnel with the mighty pillars of King Matjaž. It ends near
the largest space in the cave, Crystal Mountain. The upstream
continuation towards the Bloke Plateau has not been explored, since
both the Blato tunnel and the Pisani tunnel are covered by a tunnel
beneath which flows water. The Cave of the Cave continues
hydrologically downstream of the 124 m deep siphon to the New Cross
Cave. Despite many attempts in the past, the connection between the
caves has not yet been flooded.
The hinterland of the underground watercourse is the surrounding
hills, which explains the very stable water temperature (around 8 °
C), the oversaturation of water with calcite, and the extremely
clear water at normal and low water levels. Only at high water
levels, when the level of karst water rises, parts of the Farovščica
and Bloščica streams flow through . In addition to these events,
pollution from the Bloke Plateau comes to the cave.
Current Cave Length: 8,273 m .
Depth: -32 m (without depth of Kittl's abyss siphon).
Archaeological remains
In addition to the abundance of cave bear bones, ceramic and lithic
remains dating from the Eneolithic period were discovered in the
entrance to the cave before the first lake.
Interesting
The Cross Cave is one of the largest cave bear skeletons in this
part of Europe.
By 2000, as many as 45 subterranean (troglobiontic) animal species
were discovered in it , making it ranked 4th in the world in
diversity.
There is an underground island in the Cross Cave .