Postojna CaveIMMENSUM AD ANTRUM ADITUSPrevious | Books | Index | 日本語 | October Game | Pics | Training | Next |
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1 October 2025 - Erlenbach
Two Octobers ago I visited Postojna, saw the cave and picked up Alenka Čuk's book on Postojna Cave translated from the original Slovenian. While mostly a history of discovery inside the cave, it does also touch somewhat on the speleology in a descriptive way. While the existence of the cave has been known of for centuries, the exploration was really started during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They called it Adelsberg in German while in Slovenian it was called Postojna. By the early nineteenth century enough exciting chambers had been discovered for the emperor to visit. In fact so many started to visit that a railway was built inside the cave. This exploration has continued up to the present day. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire was split up after WWI, the kingdom of Italy was awarded Postojna area along with Trieste and Fiume. Then after WWII Postojna became a part of Yugoslavia until that country fell apart and Slovenia emerged from Postojna's part of the ashes. But, long before people started visiting, Proteus anguinus evolved from salamanders to lose its eyesight, keep its juvenile external gills throughout life, and extend that life to over a century. Interesting to think that the little fella I saw in the tank deep in the cave could have lived before I was born and still be there after I die.
