Postojna Cave

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Postojnska jama

Jamska cesta 30, SI-6230 Postojna

http://www.postojnska-jama.si/

info@postojnska-jama.si

Phone386 (0) 5 700 0100

Managed byPostojnska jama d.d.

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Postojna Cave, White chamber, 2007

The 20,570 metre-long Postojna Cave system is the longest cave system in Slovenia as well as one of its top tourist attractions, visited by over 500,000 visitors per year. The 5.3 kilometre-long trail is opened to the public which makes Postojna Cave the longest publicly-accessible depth of any cave system in the world. Its Grand Hall can receive up to 10,000 visitors and often serves as a concert venue.

The caves are also home to the endemic olm (proteus anguinus), the largest trogloditic amphibian in the world. Part of the tour through the caves includes a pool with some olms in it, making this one of the rare places in the world where the olm can be seen by tourists.

History

The cave was first described in the 17th century by Janez Vajkard Valvasor. Following the discovery of a new area of the cave in 1818 by local resident Luka Čeč it was opened to the public in 1819. A tourist railway was added in the 1870s and electric lighting in 1884. The tourist railway cars were initially pushed along by the guides themselves, but in the early years of the 20th century a gas locomotive was introduced. After 1945 this was replaced by an electric one.

During WWII the German Army used the cave to store fuel. In a diversion on 23 April 1944 the partisans managed to destroy the supplies and this date was chosen as a public holiday by the Municipality of Postojna.

Postojna Cave as a venue

The specific atmosphere and acoustics of the cave has attracted various artists to perform in its Grand Hall.

Ans. Lojzeta Slaka - Postojnska jama (1979) by polkasdu09 on YouTube

The Grand Hall can receive up to 10,000 visitors. Several concerts of various music genres have been organised there, performed by the SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana Opera Choir and RTV Slovenia Big Band).

In 2000 Matjaž Berger directed the theatre performance Sigmund Freud: Die Traumdeutung, produced by the Mladinsko Theatre. It featured an antological hot-air balloon flight by Avi Šorn within the cave.

Vadim Fishkin,  Air Balloon in the Cave, 2000 by dum00club on YouTube

The Postojna Blues Festival of present-day blues and associated music styles has presented concerts since 2004 in the Jamski dvorec mansion by the Postojna cave.

See also

• Predjama Castle
• Škocjan Caves World Heritage Site
• Postojna Blues Festival

External links

• Postojna Cave website (in Slovenian, English, German, and Italian)
• Postojna Cave on Wikipedia
• Postojna Cave on Virtual Guide to Slovene Museums and Galleries (in Slovenian)
• Postojna Cave on Kraji.si website (in Slovenian and English)
• Listen to the original 1970s (probably 1967) Diaphon Souvenir from Postojnska jama on UbuWeb and some additional info
• Article about the retail pavillion architecture in the Postojna cave concert hall on Archdaily.com
• Andrej Mrevlje (Yonder) on human fish alias baby dragon, April 2016

Gallery

Postojna Cave, stalagmites called Briljant, 2007

Postojna Cave, the way to Concert hall, 2007

Postojna Cave, White chamber, 2007

Postojna Cave, Concert hall, 2007

Postojna Cave, the Dance Hall