Grabovača is a cave park located in Perušić, Croatia. It is the elevation of the mid-Velebit, which is situated between the

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by ...

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

plains and fields in Perusic, 2 km from the center of Perušić. It is located at 770 m above sea level near the karst basin of the river Lika. With it on the west and south shoots wide panorama of the vast karst plateau with Lika River canyon, an artificial lake breads and green wall on the far horizon of Velebit. On the east side, historical monuments tower from the late 17th-century parish church, from the late 17th the century. On Grabovaca there is many underground karst forms, which make up a quarter of the total number of protected cave facilities in Croatia. The complex variety and abundance of calcite formations valuable speleological phenomena (six cave and a cave) is located at spatially restricted sites of only . The park features eight caves and a pit, all which feature calcite formations. The park is protected and managed locally. The caves are available to be seen in all the seasons except winter. The Grabovača cave is planning to connect to the existing lighting electricity as a source of power even in the current year, and the obtaining of financial assets and replace with a new lighting system that would be adapted to environmental standards in a way that the minimum extent color temperature lighting effect the existing microclimate of the cave. There are 24 fully or partially explored caves. Five caves are protected as geomorphological natural monuments: Samograd, Medina cave, Amidžina cave (1964), Budina ice cave and Petrićeva cave (1970). Caves Budina and Samogradić are sites protected under the EU eco network

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectively ...

Cave Samograd

Length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

is 345,8m (1134 ft). It consists of several chambers: Frass chamber (named after travel writer), Perušića chamber (honoring the lords of Perušić), Karlovića chamber (honoring the Croatian count) and Kukuljevića chamber (named after

Ivan Kukuljević Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgar ...

Human bones The human skeleton of an adult consists of around 206 bones, depending on the counting of sternum (which may alternatively be included as the manubrium, body of sternum, and the xiphoid process). It is composed of 270 bones at the time of birth, b ...

and pottery found inside the cave date from

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

1st century BC The 1st century BC, also known as the last century BC and the last century BCE, started on the first day of 100 BC and ended on the last day of 1 BC. The AD/BC notation does not use a year zero; however, astronomical year numberi ...

. The signatures of Austrian officers date from 1835. In 1886 Samograd Cave Development Committee ( hr, Odbor za uređenje špilje Samograd) was established, the first association related to caves in Croatia. It was illuminated in 1890. Trails and stairs were first constructed in 1903, for a planned visit of count

Khuen Hedervary Khuen (or Khün) may refer to: * Khuen people, an aboriginal ethnic group of Laos, or their language * Khün language (or ''Tai Khün''), a language of Burma * Dok Khuen * Khmuic languages (Khmu’, Khuen) * Kuan (disambiguation) * Khün Khürtü ...

to Lika region. The first plan of Samograd was made in 1911, making it the first plan of a

tourist cave A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

in Croatia. "Špilja Samograd/Cave Samograd", in: ''Pećinski park Grabovača cave park'', JU Pećinski park Grabovača: Perušić. (In Croatian and English).

Cave Samograd

References

Further reading