The Magura cave – mysticism in the womb of earth

George Georgiev

There are numerous caves, opened for visitors in Bulgaria. All of them are unique and one of the kinds with its cave world, inhabitants, formations, flowers and sounds. I had the chance to visit some caves, but every time with huge groups, which kills huge part of the underground experience. However, not long ago I decided to visit to the Magura cave, which is situated in northwestern Bulgaria, 180 km away from Sofia and 35 km southwest of Vidin town, just 2 km away from Rabisha village.

Me and my colleague from VisitBulgaria.NET decided to visit the cave on our way back from a business trip to Vidin. It was a weekday and for my happiness there were no loud crowds in front of the cave. In fact we were the only visitors of the day, until the moment, which made the curators of the cave wonder whether to let us in. In the end we managed to find a decision and so we were let in all alone, which was a dream come true for me. Alone in the underworlds, where I can stretch my stand and take pictures at large, without being bothered by other tourists.

Those who intend to visit the cave during the hot months, should know that a small hole in the stairway is a home of a very small sandy brown viper, which I saw for a second, so a little more attention is necessary. The beautiful snake turned out a serious challenge for the nervous system of my colleague, but she somehow managed to overcome her fear and with several huge jumps she reached the entrance of the cave. The curator of the cave explained us the route and how to switch on the lights in the different halls, wished us a nice stay and left us.

The pleasure is to be alone in the cave, in fact has one disadvantage. There is no guide, to tell you the stories, geology and other details, but you are able to leave it all to your imagination. The environment really gives good opportunities. However for general information – The Magura cave is one of the biggest caves in Bulgaria. It is dug in the limestone Rabisha Mogila (461 m above the sea level), and the total length of the discovered galleries is 2500 m. It comprises a main gallery, orientated in southeastern - northwestern direction and three side branching. The individual halls have colossal dimensions - 200 m length, more than 50 m width and 20 m height.

As we were left alone in the cave, the whole magnificence of the “Triumph Hall” spread in front of us. We headed along the marked route. Just a few moments later another couple entered the cave. They soon reached us and we were together almost during the whole stay. I can’t say what were the exact names of the galleries and halls we passed, but I can admit that we loitered in one mystical and fairy world, exquisitely marked by the electric lights. It is known that the Magura cave was inhabited 12 thousand years ago, and we could feel that the cave was more like a holy site – probably home of the Great mother – Goddess or maybe the ruler of the underground kingdom, who knows?
I found out one thing – you can go back thousand years in the past in the womb of the earth, you seize your breath, huddled behind some of the formations and observe the ritual of an ancient priest performing a bloody ritual, and around you people are lying on the ground praying the god for mercy. My vision was interrupted by the dark shadow, which passed by me – a bad, an inevitable inhabitant of the dark world. I can’t remember exactly how and where we passed, at the moment I can only remember the magnetic beauty of this underworld.

We found ourselves in the “Hall with the paintings”. My colleague, who had come here before, informed me that the wall paintings were made with guano (bad faecals). The images are men hunters, dancing women, sun calendar and etc. They are a complex composition and prove the intellect of the ancient people, with ideas, ideologies and religion. These exact paintings are the character of the cave - holy site for a very long time – from the neolith to the iron epoch.

We reached the “Hall of the fallen pine”, after we passed a lot of galleries and halls, whose name, I didn’t find out. Then we were started by beautiful and gentle sounds, but sounds with unknown origin. We immediately stared towards the source of the sounds and realized that this were the man and woman, who came with us in the cave. They were singing and taking advantage of the unique acoustics. My colleague found a great opportunity to have fun for a while with the two artificial stones, made of light material and she raised them as a real colossus. I must admit that during the whole trip she was looking for them and constantly touched some of the huge rocks to check their weight.

We started ahead, and we could stop admiring the incredible forms, stalactites, stalagmites and stalctons, carved in the rocks, when finally we saw a sun light. However a final obstacle was waiting for us at the exit. 1,5 metre long snake was easyly stretching just a few metres from the exit. I won’t mention the reaction of my colleague, who felt as she is in a trap and her way was surrounded. We carefully rounded this guard if the cave, which when I looked it more carefully turned out to be a grass – snake – beautiful and worthy representative of its kind.

Immediately when we went out of the cave the Rabisha Lake reviled in front of us. This marvelous, natural water pool is the biggest inner lake in Bulgaria. It has a tectonic origin and reaches 40 metres in depth.

That was how our adventure in the beautiful Magura cave ended, which will inevitably leave unforgettable memories in our minds.

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