Position:  Revucka vrchovina, Hradok,

                 cadastral area Ochtina,
                 district Roznava, Kosicky region
 

Length of pathway: 585 m

Duration of the guided tour: 30 min.

Open for the public: 1.4.-31.10.

Closed: 1.11.-31.3., on Mondays

Address: 049 35 Ochtina

Phone: +421/ (0)58/ 488 10 51-52

E-mail: oaj@ssj.sk

Situated in the Ochtinsky cryptokarst in the Revucka Highland, in the massive of Hradok Hill, between Jelsava and Stitnik. It was formed in a lens of Palaeozoic crystalline limestones in the non-karst  rocks (phyllites). A part of the limestones was, in the Mesozoic Period in the Upper Cretaceous, hydrothermically transformed into ankerites and siderites. The seepage atmospheric water seeping along the tectonic faults caused their weathering and  creation of ochres, that were later flowed away. Overall length of the cave is 300 m. A rich aragonite filling was formed under specific hydrochemical and climatic conditions in closed underground spaces. It occurs in kidney-shaped, needle-shaped and spiral forms. The cave was discovered in 1954 by chance, when driving a new geologic exploratory gallery. It was open to the public in 1972 in the length of 230 m.