Vjetrenica Cave inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List
- by croatiaweek
- in News
ZAGREB, 29 July (Hina) – Vjetrenica Cave in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List at a meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in New Delhi on Friday.
Part of the Dinaric mountain range, this unique karst cave is located in the municipality of Ravno, 12 kilometres from Slano on the Croatian Adriatic coast and 80 kilometres from the southern BiH city of Mostar.
During the warmer parts of the year, strong gusts of cold air come from its entrance, which is how it got its name.
With channels measuring more than seven kilometres in length, Vjetrenica ranks first in the world in terms of biodiversity, with close to 200 animal species. It is rich in speleological and archaeological sites.
The cave has been explored and mapped out to a total length of 7,014 meters, with the main passage stretching approximately 2.47 kilometers.
This main channel extends from the edge of Popovo Polje towards the south. Based on terrain analysis, geologists suggest that Vjetrenica could potentially reach all the way to the Adriatic Sea in Croatia, situated 15–20 kilometers from the cave’s entrance.
Vjetrenica Cave (Photo credit: InDoRoN/CC BY-SA 3.0)
This hypothesis is bolstered by both hydrological evidence and the abrupt termination of the cave in a large pile of collapsed stone blocks.
Its unique subterranean eco-systems, geological formations and a wealth of endemic species make it an important habitat explored by numerous researchers.
BiH Civil Affairs Minister Dubravka Bošnjak expressed satisfaction with the inscription of the cave on the UNESCO list, noting that this would give the site greater international visibility and help in the development of local tourism.
There are as many as four rivers and several dozen small occasional streams with lakes in the cave.
This natural phenomenon was first mentioned in 77 A.D. in Historia Naturalis (Natural History) by Roman author Pliny the Elder.
The other entries from Bosnia and Herzegovina on UNESCO’s World Heritage List are Mostar’s Old Bridge, Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Višegrad, and Stećci medieval tombstone graveyards and ancient beech forests, co-nominated with other European countries.
