Čachtická Cave

The oldest surveys of karst spaces around Čachtice date back to 1912 - 1914, which in August 1956 ended up with discovery of the Čachtická Cave. The direct surrounding of the cave is a karst platform with dominant elevations of Drapľák and Skalka. The platform is characteristic with well developed karren fields, karst dolines and other surface karst phenomena. Tectonic predisposition conditioned the origin of underground karst forms, caves and abysses, of which the most important is the Čachtická Cave – the longest cave in the Protected Landscape Area Malé Karpaty.

Cave entrance is in one of the karst depressions to the north of Drapľák at elevation of 335 m. The cave length reaches at present 3,865 m with vertical span of 110 m.

The cave is formed in fine-crystalline to tiny-crystalline Middle Triassic limestones belonging to the Nedza series of the Choč Nappe. Cave spaces are mainly of smaller dimensions with sporadic occurrence of domes and halls. Their origin was conditioned by corrosive activities of percolating waters along the tectonic faults and fissures. Traces after flowing water remained in some places. A process of formation of flowstone fills, in forms of films, stalactites, stalagmites of various shapes and sizes, took place in other parts of the cave. These processes are visible also today.

From the biological point of view it is a less surveyed cave. The cave have a good potential for occurrence of interesting forms of cave animals.

8 bat species have already been found in the cave. Bigger is abundance of the Greater Mouse-eared Bat (Myotis myotis) and Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros). From the invertebrates only occurrence of centipede (Chilopoda) Lithobius forficatus species is known from the cave entrance part.