Morovitsa Cave

Morovitsa Cave is located in Central Northern Bulgaria, at the foot of the Balkan Mountains between Yablanitsa town, and the village of Glozhene, 2 km from the Glozhene Monastery. It is about 58 km from the regional  Lovech town, about 13 km from Teteven town, and Yablanitsa town. The capital Sofia is located about 112 km away, and the Sofia-Varna highway is about 12 km far from the cave. Morovitsa is one of the numerous caves located in the Teteven Balkan and is one of the largest Bulgarian caves. The cave is exceedingly interesting because many of the bats found in Bulgaria inhabit Morovitsa. Since 1962, Morovitsa has been a natural landmark, and since 1967 has been an architectural and construction monument from Antiquity and the Middle Ages, of national importance. It is two-storeyed, and the total length of the galleries is 3250 m, with a displacement of 162 m: climb +57 m, depth -150 m. After its entrance, only the first about 320 m of the horizontal gallery is accessible to tourists and with caution. Since ancient times – during the Late Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Eneolithic, Morovitsa Cave has been inhabited – both by animals (in it were found remains of a cave bear and a cave hyena ) and by primitive people (in it were found flint cannons, millstones, clay vessels, and other artifacts). Later, the Thracians and the Bulgarians left their traces (inscriptions from the time of Ivan-Shishman, etc.). Yoto Dinov ( a teacher from the village of Glozhene) made the first studies for Morovitsa Cave. After his first discoveries in 1910, he also attracted the director of the Teteven Junior High School Koychev, to the research. The discoveries made in Morovitsa are significant and the finds become part of the expositions of the National Museum of History in Sofia and the Historical Museum in Teteven; exhibits are also in the museum of the nearby Glozhene Monastery.