Location: Lokev Map
Discovered: 1633 (recorded)
Length: 1,300 metres (4,300 ft)
Depth: 180 m (590 ft)
Tel: +3865 7344 259
+3865 1648 711
E-mail: vilenica@siol.net
Open: Apt- Oct 3- 5 pm
Nov- March by prior arrangement
Vilenica Cave is a natural underground system of karst tunnels and caverns situated near village of Lokev in South- Western Slovenia. Underground cave system of Vilenica Cave reaches a total length of 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) and a depth of 180 m (590 ft).
In 1633, the owner Count Petač gave a cave to the parish of Lokva .
He also stipulated that the parish could have all the proceeds from
guided tours of the cave - which is why locals consider their cave
to be tourist active for almost 400 years.
The famous naturalist Balthasar Hacquet visited the cave in 1778 and
records of several royal visits are preserved: King of Naples and
Sicily Ferdinand (1790), Emperor Leopold II (1790 and 1791), Emperor
Francis I (1816), King of Saxony Frederick II (1836), etc.
Until the mid-19th century, Vilenica was known as the most
beautiful, largest and most visited cave of the Mother Karst. It was
long abandoned again in 1963 when it was taken care of by the Sežana
Caving Society. In their spare time, the members of the society
gradually renewed the trails and arranged the electric lighting. For
visitors, Vilenica is equipped and illuminated 450m in length.
The cave used to greatly stir the imagination of visitors and the
locals believed that good villas resided in i. So Vilenica got its
name. The story tells how the Vilenica Cave rattled . Archaeological
remains from the period between the Early Stone Age and the Bronze
Age were discovered in the entrance section .
In 1980, the dinners of Slovenian writers began to be organized in
the cave, and from 1986 onwards the Vilenica International Literary
Festival - a meeting of poets and writers from all over Europe. At
this event, the Vilenica International (Central European) Prize for
Literature is awarded , namely the Vilenica Grand Prize and the
Crystal Vilenica Award.