The Magura Cave

The Magura cave is situated just 35 kilometres southwest of the beautiful town Vidin on the Danube river. It is 17km away from the town of Belogradchik 1,5km from the village of Rabisha. The capital of Bulgaria – Sofia is 170 km to the south.
It is hollowed out in the Rabisha hill limestone, 461m above the sea level. The Magura is one of the largest caves in Bulgaria. The total length of the galleries, discovered till now, exceeds 2600 m.

It consists of one main gallery, pointing southeast - northwest and three side branches.The cave-halls are enormous in size. Each one of them is over 200 m long, more than 50 m wide and over 20 m high.

The cave has fantastic formations - stalactites, stalagmites, stalctones, cave pearls, “cave milk”. Some of them are impressive both with their beauty and size. “The Big Stalctone” is over 20 m high and has a diameter of 4 m at its base. “The Fallen Pine” is the biggest stalagmite in the Bulgarian caves explored till now. It is over 11 m long and has a diameter of 6m at its base.

Pearls of the cave are the unique stone paintings, done in bat guano. They are multi layered and come from different epochs - The Epupaleolith, The Neolith, The Eneolith, the beginning of The Early Bronze Age.The paintings in the 'Magura' cave represent dancing women,dancing and hunting men,disguised men,large variety of animals,suns,stars,instruments of labour,plants etc. The Solar calendar from The Late Eneolith and some later additions, made during The Early Bronze age are quite accurate. Through pictures information about religous events and feasts along with their smbols and particular personages were saved.
Some of the images are very complex compositions and hint about the diversity of ideas in a world extremely rich in intelectual and spiritual aspect.The 'Magura' drawings define its function as a temple for a long period of time - from The Neolith till The Iron age.
The images are in analogy to those in famous cultural centres in Italy,The Iberian peninsula and middle Asia. Undoubtedly they belong to thwe Mediterial mediums of prehistorical art.

Magura Wine Celler: The climatic and relief conditions of the area round the Rabisha hill are close to those of the Champagne region in France. The cave offers excellent conditions for the production of Champagne-like wines - steady temperature, humidity etc. In one of the branches of the cave the only one in this country wine cellar is established where natural fizzy wines are produced with classical technologies applied.

The Rabisha lake: Next to the cave is the Rabisha Lake - the largest inland lake in Bulgaria. It is up to 35-40m deep. The Rabisha lake is of tectonic origin.
It offers perfect conditions for surfing and swimming. The lake is also an attractive place hunting and fishing - lake birds, carp and sheet-fish can be found in it. During the hot summer days, the lake is ideal site for relax and numerous tourists from all over the world are putting up tents close by.

Read more information about Vidin region here.

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