Dobšiná Ice Cave (; ) is an
ice cave in
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
, near the mining town of
Dobšiná in the
Slovak Paradise. Since 2000 it has been included on the
UNESCO World Heritage
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by int ...
list as a part of the
Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst site, because of its unique cave formations and its natural beauty.
Famous visitors to the ice cave have been Prince August von Sachsen Gotha and his wife (1872),
Ferdinand de Lesseps (constructor of the Suez Channel) and a party of French writers (1884), Bulgarian Czar
Ferdinand I (1890), and the polar explorer
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and co-founded the ...
(1900).
With the entrance at 920 m a.s.l, it is one of the lowest ice caves in the world.
History
The cave was discovered on 15 June 1870 by the royal mining engineer
Jenő Ruffinyi, accompanied by Gustáv Lang and Andrej Mega, although the entrance was known from time immemorial by shepherds and hunters as ''Studená diera'' (Cold Hole). The cave was opened to the public one year after its discovery. In 1887, it was the first electrically lit cave in
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
.
At about this time 7,171 square metres of the cave's known area of 8,874 square metres were reported covered with ice. The total ice volume was estimated at 125,000 cubic metres, which makes it one of the most important ice caves in the world. The thickness of the ice reaches up to 26.5 m.
The cave floor descends from the entrance which faces North; this results in rapid cooling of the cave in winter as cold air can fall down. On the other hand, the interior is quite protected from the warm environment in summer. Thus the annual temperature average stays around 0 °C. The cave iced up, as this cycle repeated for many centuries. The age of the cave is estimated at 250,000 years.
It lies 130 m above the
Hnilec River, and the entrance is at an altitude of 971 m. The total length of the cave is 1,491 m (some sources claim 1,232 m
), of which 475 m plus individual 43 m are open to the public from May to September.
References
External links
Dobšiná Ice Caveat Slovak Caves Administration
Dobšiná Ice Cavea
Slovakia.travelPhotosDobsinska Ice Cave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobsina Ice Cave
Show caves in Slovakia
Ice caves
World Heritage Sites in Slovakia
Geography of Košice Region
Tourist attractions in Košice Region
Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst