Resavska Cave

Resavska Cave is located in eastern Serbia, in the territory of the Upper Resava, 20 km away from the town of Despotovac. It is located in the limestone hill of Grandma’s Head (Babina glava), on the periphery of the limestone field of Divljakovac (Wild Field), at 485 m above sea level. It is categorized as one of the oldest caves in our country because it is older than 80 million years, and the older ornaments are estimated to date back as early as about 45 million years. Its creation began before the Great Ice Age by the chemical and mechanical influences of the sinkhole river in the limestone geological substrate. Resavska Cave was discovered in 1962, although even earlier the shepherds who had found a shelter in the cave with their sheep to protect themselves and the sheep from the extremely bad weather had also known about the cave. The cave was opened for visitors in 1972. It is 4.5 km long and 2830 m have been researched, of which about 800 m has been arranged for visitors. The temperature in Resavska Cave is constantly +7°C, whereas the humidity of the air varies between 80% and 100%. The inside of the cave abounds in numerous and diverse halls, channels, galleries, columns, stalactites, stalagmites, draperies and petrified waterfalls. The cave ornaments are visible as soon as you step into the cave at the entrance at 485 m above sea level. The ornaments were created by the dissolution of calcium-carbonate, and the color depends on the mineral through which the water had flowed. It appears in three colors: the red (originating from iron-oxide), the white (from crystal calcium) and the yellow (from clay admixtures). While passing through the cave, visitors walk along the spiral concrete path, one-way, which means that they do not return along the same path. The path passes through different halls at two levels (the upper and the lower galleries). The lowest point that visitors have access to is at 405 m above sea level. In the Upper Gallery, visitors go to the four halls. The first is “The Hall of the Columns and Colonnades Grown into One”, which was named after the columns that grew into one from the floor to the ceiling, and which consist of yellowish calcite. In the second, “The Beehives Hall”, the ceiling is covered with the stalactites which are still being formed. The second and the third hall are connected by the channel of red breccia, which in our country is only found in Resavska Cave. The Canyon Channel is the driest part of the cave and there are no cave ornaments there. Centrically, there is the 25-m-long “Blind Tunnel” abyss, which has been researched, but is not arranged for sightseeing. The Canyon Channel leads you to the third hall – “The Atrium to Prehistory”. It was named after the tools (a stone ax, spearheads), the skull of the polar fox and the hearth of prehistoric man that were found there. The shorter tunnels, subsequently cut through, lead to “The Path of the Petrified Waterfalls”, with “The Organ”. The hall is quite acoustic and there are two crystal white sculptures – “The Grandma” and “The Grandpa”. The longer artificial tunnel leads to the fourth – “The Crystal Hall”, in which there are ornaments better-known as “The Hanging Sheep” and “The Elephant’s Foot”. The cavity in the wall of the cave, created by the growing into one of the stalactites and the stalagmites, is known as “The Bell” or “The Cage”. Resavska Cage has the status of the protected natural monument, also including its immediate surroundings of the floor space of 11 hectares. The inscription on the board is in the field of the form Tabula Ansata, carved in six linear strings, but today, only the three of them are readable. Of its rich relief decoration, only the frieze, with the representation of the eagle, and the figures of winged genii have been preserved. Beneath the inscription, there is a kneeling figure, probably Danubius, and above it, there is an eave with the rib-cassette ceiling. The cassettes are decorated with the rosettes and the representations of the eagle with the widespread wings, whereas laterally there is the relief presentation of the two dolphins. Translated from the Latin language, the Trajan’s Tablet reads as follows: “Emperor Caesar, a son of divine Nerva, Nerva Trajan Augustus Germanicus, the great pontiff, appointed as a tribune for the fourth time, the father of the homeland, the consul for the third time, carved the mountains and placed the beams from which this road was built.”