Explore the Resavska Pecina Cave in Eastern Serbia

The Resavska Pecina cave is known to be one of the oldest caves in Serbia with an age of almost 80 million years old. Although old, it still has its stunning cave formations persuading tourists to see it with their own eyes. The cave is located in eastern Serbia, in the region of Gornja Resava, 20 kilometers from the town of Despotovac. You can see it set into the limestone hill of Babina Glava, on the fringes of the Divljakovac karst field.

The cave’s formation began before the Great Ice Age as a product of the subterranean river continuously running through the limestone bedrock. Even though the cave is a million years old, it was only discovered in 1962. Before that year however, it had been a spot for shepherds and their sheep when they needed shelter under the bad weather. The cave opened for tourists in 1972.

The Resavska Pecina cave is 4.5 kilometers long but only 800 meters of it has been made accessible to visitors. Its temperature is a constant 7°C all year round, with air humidity varying between 80 and 100%. When you enter the cave, you’ll instantly see the cave formations colored in red (from iron oxide), white (from crystalline calcite) and yellow (clay).

The visitors first follow a spiral concrete path, passing through various halls, channels, galleries, columns, stalactites, stalagmites, draperies, and flowstone waterfalls. There are two levels in the cave: the upper gallery and the lower gallery.

In the upper gallery, you can tour around four halls: the Hall of Joined Columns or Collonades which has columns made of yellowish calcite, the Beehive Mall with a stalactite-covered roof, the Entrance Hall of History where ancient tools like stone axes and spearheads were found, and the Crystal Hall where you can find the cave formations known as the Hug Sheep and Elephant’s foot. Tunnels were made to make all halls accessible for visitors.