Top 6 Caves around Medvednica

Zrinski Mine Opened in the 16th Century _______________ In the 16th century, galena, which contained silver as an admixture, was found in the Ruadrski Vrt area. Soon after, mining began on Medvednica, and hardworking miners worked 10 to 12 hours a day – using hammers, wedges, picks and shovels. The Zrinski family stopped mining in the mid-17th century because they were not satisfied with the results – a ton of galena had to be mined for half a kilogram of silver. Until 2004, the mine was abandoned and inhabited by underground creatures – when it was finally restored.

Not far from the Grafičar mountain lodge is an area called the Miner's Garden, where the Zrinski Mine is located.

The cave is closed during winter beacuse of bat hibernation.

A great lover of Medvednica, mountaineer, journalist, publicist and photographer, Vladimir Horvat (1891-1962) in the period from 1946-53. he built 500 stone steps with his own hands in the then inaccessible part of Medvednica. Horvat's steps are undoubtedly the most beautiful man-made excursion facility on Medvednica. Horvat also arranged for a visit to the cave Medvednica, discovered another new cave and several sinkholes, and on the bank of a small stream in the dense forest shade, under 500 steps, arranged a nice picnic area with terraces, benches for picnickers and a canopy in case of storms, and named it Srnec .

The village "Medvednica" is located on the way to the Horvat steps. It is about 15 meters long inside the rock and has one opening at the top (it is located a few meters above the stairs and is shown with a cross in the picture above), while the length through which Horvat's stairs (path) pass is only a few meters long.

Veternica is a cave located in the Medvednica Nature Park, on the very edge of the city of Zagreb, and in 1979 it was protected by law as a geomorphological natural monument. It is 7,128 m long; the first 380 m of the cave is open to visitors. It was named after the air current (Kajkavian: veter) that appears at the entrance. The entrance to the cave lies at an absolute height of 320 m.

Horvat's stairs are located under the hotel "Janica" and Rauch's cabin. The height difference between the first and last steps is 103 m, and their horizontal distance is about 300 m. Going down the stairs, you pass Patuljka's Cave, a lookout point with a small resting place from where you can see the neighboring hills and part of Hrvatski Zagorje with the nearest settlement of Pila, the stone called Moj naklon, Tisa's sinkhole, Medvednica Cave, Small Cave, and reach the shore of the Bistri Jarek stream. where is the resting place "Srnec". Every 50th step is marked with a number so that the hiker knows the distance traveled.

Horvat's 500 steps (about 600 m) are located on the northern slope of Medvednica, in a karst area that was completely unknown until it was discovered and arranged by the famous Zagreb mountaineer and journalist Vladimir Horvat.