Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst
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How it came to be
On the limestone plateaus along the border of north-eastern Hungary and south-eastern Slovakia, 712 caves were known when the site was inscribed, and more than 1,000 are known today. The karst carries traces of both the tropical climate of the late Cretaceous and early Tertiary and the cold of the Quaternary, a combination said to be better documented here than anywhere else.
At its heart is the Baradla-Domica system, which runs under the border for 21 km, about a quarter of it on the Slovak side. Baradla is first mentioned in writing in 1549 and has taken visitors since 1920. Domica was discovered by Ján Majko in 1926, and people lived in it around 5000 BC.
Eugen Ruffinyi explored the Dobšiná Ice Cave in 1870, and in 1887 it became the first cave in Europe lit by electricity. The caves were inscribed in 1995, and Dobšiná was added in 2000. More than 99% of the caves remain in their natural state.
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