Rak Škocjan ( sl, Rakov Škocjan; ) is a valley and a landscape park, part of Inner Carniola Regional Park in southwestern

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. Administratively, it belongs to the settlement of

Rakov Škocjan Rakov Škocjan () is a settlement south of Rakek in the Municipality of Cerknica in the Inner Carniola region of Slovenia. The surrounding area of the Rak Škocjan Valley is a regional nature reserve known as Rak Škocjan Park. Name The name ''R ...

. Rak Škocjan has been protected since 1949 and is the oldest landscape park in Slovenia.

Geography

There are two natural bridges in Rak Škocjan, Little Natural Bridge ( sl, Mali naravni most) and about downstream, to the west, Big Natural Bridge ( sl, Veliki naravni most).

Rak Creek The Rak is a stream in Inner Carniola, a traditional region of southeastern Slovenia. It sources in Zelše Caves () west of the village of Zelše, flows across the Rak Škocjan karst valley for and enters Weaver's Cave ( sl, Tkalca jama), where ...

traverses the valley and enters the cave

Weaver's Cave Weaver Cave ( sl, Tkalca jama), also known as Inlet Cave (), is a long ponor cave in southwest Slovenia. It runs from the west (downstream) side of the Rak Škocjan Valley, where it has two entrances, and continues into Planina Cave. It is tra ...

at its western side. It reappears again in

Planina Cave Planina Cave ( sl, Planinska jama), formerly also Little Castle Cave () after Little Castle in the vicinity of its entrance, is one of the longest Slovenian active caves. It is a huge tunnel and the subterranean bed of the Unica River. It is loc ...

. Above the valley, in the vicinity of Big Natural Bridge, stand the ruins of St. Cantianus's Church, built in the early 17th century in the late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style. This area is also an Iron Age archaeological site. The valley itself is enclosed on all sides by sheer cliffs, which can reach as high as .

Name

The name ''Rakov Škocjan'' literally means 'Škocjan on Rak Creek'. Like other places named ''Škocjan'', the name is a contraction of ''*šent Kǫcьjanъ'' ' Saint Cantianus', referring to the patron saint of the local church. The name of the area is an artificial coinage; the name ''Rakovska kotlina'' 'Rak Basin' was initially suggested in 1949. The name ''Rakov Škocjan'' 'Rak Škocjan' first appeared in the mid-1960s, and it gradually took hold by the 1980s alongside other names for the area, including ''Rakova dolina'' 'Rak Valley' and ''Dolina Raka'' 'Rak Valley'. In Slovene, the valley shares its name with the settlement of

Gallery

Franz Kurz zum Thurn und Goldenstein - Rakov Škocjan II.jpg, Painting of Rak Škocjan Rakov Škocjan - River Rak in cave 01.jpg, Zelše Caves, upstream view Rakov Skocjan Rakov Skocjan 07.JPG, Zelše Caves, upstream view at high water level Random Slovenian natural bridges (9188433157).jpg, Upstream view of Big Natural Bridge Rakov Skocjan Kleine Brücke 3.JPG, Little Natural Bridge Rakov Skocjan (2731983637).jpg, Little Natural Bridge, seen from below

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rak Skocjan Valleys in Inner Carniola Landscape parks in Slovenia Municipality of Cerknica Ljubljanica basin

Geography

Name

Gallery

See also

References