A chasm for the vivid imagination

The Cave below Predjama Castle has several branches and several entrances. To enter the cave a certain amount of fitness is required (for climbing up and down) –and the courage to penetrate a subterranean world illuminated only by the light of portable lamps.

There are three routes into the Cave below Predjama Castle. The best known of these is via the Stable, where traces of Late Stone Age and Copper Age habitation have been discovered, along with finds dating from Roman times. The path into the underworld leads to the Main Passage. A particularly interesting feature of the cave is the Passage of Names, where the signatures of visitors from the 16th century onwards can be seen. This passage connects the Main Passage to Fiženca, which has an entrance above the castle and which descends 600 metres underground. Thanks to its position and temperature conditions, the cave has gained some interesting inhabitants: a colony of bats. For this reason entrance to the cave is not possible in winter, when the bats are hibernating. The narrow Erazem's Passage, 37 metres long, was once walled up but is today open once again. To visit this part of the cave, some climbing skills and additional equipment are required. Bolder visitors can set off with a guide from the Great Hall, through the Old Cave to the Windy Gap and along a man-made passage to the Black Hall or along the Eastern Passage to the Belščica siphon.