The Magurata cave

Location

The Magura cave is in the Northwest of Bulgaria, some 180km from the capital of Sofia. It is 17km away from the town of Belogradchik 1,5km from the village of Rabisha, and 35km southwest of the town of Vidin on the Danube.It is hollowed out in the Rabisha hill limestone, 461m above sea level. The Magura is one of the largest caves in Bulgaria. The total length of the galleries, discovered till now, exceeds 2000 m.
It consists of one main gallery, pointing southeast - northwest and three side branches.The cave-halls are enormous in size. Each one of them is over 200m long, more than 50m wide and over 20m high. 
Next to the cave is the Rabisha Lake - the largest inland lake in Bulgaria. It is up to 35-40m deep. The Rabisha lake is of tectonic origin. It offers perfect conditions for surfing and swimming. The lake is also an attractive place for hunting and fishing - lake birds, carp and sheet-fish can be found in it.

Formations in the cave

The caves have fantastic formations - stalactites, stalagmites, stalctones, cave pearls, “cave milk”. Some of them are impressive both with their beauty and size. “The Big Stalctone” is over 20m high and has a diameter of 4m at its base. “The Fallen Pine” is the biggest stalagmite in the Bulgarian caves explored till now. It is over 11m long and has a diameter of 6m at its base.

The prehistorical man in the cave - paintings

Pearls of the cave are the unique paintings on stone, done in bat guano. They are multi layered and come from different epochs - The Epupaleolith, The Neolith, The Eneolith, the beginning of The Early Bronze Age.The paintings in the 'Magura' cave represent dancing women,dancing and hunting men,disguised men,large variety of animals,suns,stars,instruments of labour,plants etc. The Solar calendar from The Late Eneolith and some later additions, made during The Early Bronze age are quite accurate. Through pictures information about religous events and feasts along with their smbols and particular personages were saved.
Some of the images are very complex compositions and hint about the diversity of ideas in a world extremely rich in intelectual and spiritual aspect.The 'Magura' drawings define its function as a temple for a long period of time - from The Neolith till The Iron age.
The images are in analogy to those in famous cultural centres in Italy,The Iberian peninsula and middle Asia. Undoubtedly they belong to thwe Mediterial mediums of prehistorical art.

Champagne "MAGURA"

The climatic and relief conditions of the area round the Rabisha hill are close to those of the Champagne region in France. The cave offers excellent conditions for the production of Champagne-like wines - steady temperature, humidity etc. In one of the branches of the cave the only one in this country wine cellar is established where natural fizzy wines are produced with classical technologies applied.