Weaver Cave ( sl, Tkalca jama), also known as Inlet Cave (), is a long ponor cave in southwest

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 ...

. It runs from the west (downstream) side of the Rak Škocjan Valley, where it has two entrances, and continues into

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 ...

. It is traversed by

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 ...

, part of the

Ljubljanica The Ljubljanica (), known in the Middle Ages as the ''Sava'', is a river in the southern part of the Ljubljana Basin in Slovenia. The capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, lies on the river. The Ljubljanica rises south of the town of Vrhnika and flows ...

source system. It thus forms part of the hydrological connection between

Cerknica Polje Lake Cerknica (; sl, Cerkniško jezero, german: Zirknitzer See) is an intermittent lake in the southern part of the Cerknica Polje, a karst polje in Inner Carniola, a region in southwestern Slovenia. The lake, oriented in the Dinaric direction fr ...

and

Planina Polje Planina may refer to: In Croatia: *Planina Donja, part of Zagreb In Serbia: *Planina (Krupanj), a settlement in the Municipality of Krupanj In Slovenia: *Planina, Ajdovščina, a settlement in the Municipality of Ajdovščina * Planina, Ivančn ...

. Due to sumps, the stream of the Rak is very difficult to follow and was explored by divers only in 1974, when the majority of the cave was discovered in the course of a rescue expedition, and in August 2012. The cave was named after a

stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically ...

reminiscent of a weaver. An old story says that he was turned to stone because he worked on Sunday, the

Lord's Day The Lord's Day in Christianity is generally Sunday, the principal day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the canonical Gospels to have been witnessed al ...

. The first description of Weaver Cave was published in 1687 by

Johann Weikhard von Valvasor Johann Weikhard Freiherr von Valvasor or Johann Weichard Freiherr von Valvasor ( sl, Janez Vajkard Valvasor, ) or simply Valvasor (baptised on 28 May 1641 – September or October 1693) was a natural historian and polymath from Carniola, pr ...

in the ''

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the first journa ...

''. He also published an engraving of it. The cave has also been depicted by other artists, including Franz Goldenstein (1808–1878) in the 1850s. His painting of the Great Natural Bridge of Rak Škocjan as seen from the inside of the cave is on display in the

National Gallery of Slovenia The National Gallery of Slovenia ( sl, Narodna galerija) is the national art gallery of Slovenia. It is located in the capital Ljubljana. It was founded in 1918, after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the establishment of the State of Sloven ...

Gallery

Tkalca jama 01.jpg, Lower (main) entry Tkalca jama 02.jpg, Upper (secondary) entry

References

External links

*
Weaver Cave
Statistical information. Cave E-Cadastre.

Virtual panorama (surround photography) in front of the main entrance. Burger.si. (Rich media - may be viewed with

QuickTime QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is avai ...

). Caves of Inner Carniola Ljubljanica basin Municipality of Cerknica Articles containing video clips {{Slovenia-geo-stub