Domica Cave

The Domica cave is located 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) south-east of Plesivec in the Roava District of the Koice Region in southern Slovakia, and together with the Baradla cave, it forms the most significant section of the Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst cross-border cave network that continues into Hungary's Aggtelek National Park. Ján Majko found these huge limestone passageways, which formed during the Middle Triassic and are rich in speleothems, in 1926. Since 1932, a 1,600 m (5,200 ft) part of its overall length of 5,140 m (16,860 ft) has been open to the public. In 1995, the monument was inducted onto the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst.

The site is part of a complex system of formations that includes 712 caverns, many of which have long been known to the local populace. In 1801, Bartholomeides, an Ochtiná priest, recorded his first methodical trips into the Certova diera Cave. The explorer I.Vass, who investigated the Baradla cave in 1821, confirmed his findings that a variety of local caves are essentially fragments of a larger organism. In 1881, E. Nyari began archaeological investigation and proposed a link between the Certova diera and Baradla Cave, as did K. Siegmenth in 1891. Only Jan Majko's thorough effort in 1926 verified the interconnectedness of various local caverns, leading to the October 3, 1926 discovery of the Domica cave. In 1926, J. Majko peered down a 15 m deep pit into huge underground caverns, where archaeologists eventually discovered a plethora of artifacts.

During the 1930s, Jaroslav Böhm oversaw excavations. Human presence can be traced back to the Paleolithic period. The cave was most likely a temporary shelter for Eastern Slovakia's earliest Neolithic people. The cave has, however, been visited by Neolithic humans of the Bükk culture, who may have even made their distinctive thin-walled pottery there.

Length: 5,140 m

Address: Jaskyňa Domica, 049 55 Dlhá Ves, Slovakia