Hrušovská cave

Lore & Background

The cave was discovered on May 10, 1978, by caver Róbert Boroš, who excavated the original backwater outlet located above the Eveteš karst spring. He and Tomáš Lázár made the first ascent shortly after. Members of the Slovak Speleological Society from Rožňava then explored and mapped the cave, determining its corridor length to be 780 m, making it the longest cave in the Upper Vyrch at the time. The basic plan was published in 1984 by Boroš and Ščuka.

In 1996, the cave became a national natural monument. In 2008, it became part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Caves of the Slovak Karst and the Aggtelecký Karst. In 2017, an excavation group found more than 200 meters of hidden caves, increasing the total length to 1,118 m.

Reader's Guide

Hrušovská Cave is significant as a protected national natural monument and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, representing a spring cave with notable speleothems including sinter decoration, helictites, calcite crystals, and outgrowths of sinter crystals. Its discovery in 1978 by Róbert Boroš expanded knowledge of the karst system in the Slovak Karst region. The cave's length increased from 780 m to 1,118 m after further exploration in 2017, highlighting ongoing speleological research. It also serves as a wintering ground for four bat species, including the greater horseshoe bat, and hosts an endemic form of the cave beetle Duvalius bokori gelidus, found only in the Silická plain. The 2025 train collision near the cave raised concerns about contamination, leading to water sampling that continues into 2026, underscoring the cave's environmental sensitivity.

Did You Know?

• The cave was discovered on May 10, 1978, by caver Róbert Boroš.
• It is the longest cave in the Upper Vyrch, with a total length of 1,118 m as of 2017.
• The cave contains an endemic form of the cave beetle Duvalius bokori gelidus, found only in the Silická plain of the Slovak Karst.
• In October 2025, a train collision near the cave led to water sampling for possible contamination.

Discovery & Early Exploration

The story of Hrušovská Cave begins on a single day in May 1978, when caver Róbert Boroš was working in the deluvial mantle on a plateau slope near the village of Hrušov. He was excavating a backwater outlet that sat roughly six metres above the permanent Eveteš karst spring. The outlet was only intermittently active, opening up when the underground stream ran faster. Boroš cleared the passage, and within hours he became the first person to walk through the cave. He was soon joined by fellow Rožňava caver Tomáš Lázár, and together they made the initial ascent and partial exploration. In the weeks that followed, members of the Slovak Speleological Society from Rožňava took over the systematic work, mapping the passages and establishing a corridor length of 780 metres. That measurement immediately placed Hrušovská as the longest known cave in the Upper Vyrch region. A basic plan of the cave was later published in 1984 by Boroš and Ščuka, cementing the discovery in the speleological record.

Geological Character & Heritage Protection

Hrušovská is classified as a solutional cave, meaning its passages were carved primarily by the dissolving action of water on soluble rock. Its interior is notable for a rich assemblage of secondary formations: sinter decoration, helictites, calcite crystals, and outgrowths of sinter crystals. These features made the cave a strong candidate for formal protection. In 1995, it was incorporated into the UNESCO World Heritage Site designated as the Caves of the Slovak Karst and the Aggtelecký Karst, a transboundary listing that recognised the outstanding universal value of the karst system. A year later, in 1996, the Slovak state elevated Hrušovská to the status of a national natural monument, with the specific subject of protection being the spring cave and its sinter, helictite, and crystal formations. The cave sits in the cadastral area of Hrušov, in the Rožňava District of the Košice Region, and its entrance lies at 295 metres above sea level at the foot of the rocky ridge known as Soroška, roughly beneath the southern mouth of the Jablonovský Tunnel.

Rediscovery & the 2025 Railway Incident

For nearly four decades after its initial mapping, Hrušovská's known extent remained at 780 metres. That changed in 2017, when an excavation group working within the cave system uncovered more than 200 additional metres of previously hidden passages. The total corridor length jumped to 1,118 metres, a significant expansion that confirmed the cave's potential for further growth. Yet the cave's most recent chapter carries a different tone. In October 2025, two trains collided near the cave, and the accident site lay directly above the entrance, which sits beneath the railway line. Operating fluids leaked from the wreckage, raising immediate concerns about contamination of the underground water system. Authorities quickly issued inspection orders, and teams entered the cave to collect water samples. Fortunately, no contamination was detected. Nevertheless, the Správa slovenských jaskýň, the Slovak cave management body, announced that water sampling would continue throughout 2026 as a precautionary measure, underscoring how a single industrial accident can cast a long shadow over a fragile subterranean ecosystem.

Life in the Dark

Despite its modest size compared to some show caves, Hrušovská supports a surprisingly specialised community of organisms adapted to permanent darkness. Four species of bats use the cave as a wintering site, with the greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) being the most commonly observed. The rarer southern horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus euryale) has also been recorded, though sightings are infrequent. Among invertebrates, the cave harbours a particularly noteworthy resident: an endemic form of the cave beetle Duvalius bokori gelidus, a population found exclusively in the Silická plain of the Slovak Karst. This restricted range makes the beetle a sensitive indicator of the cave's ecological integrity. Several species of springtails also overwinter in the passages, forming part of the detritus-based food web that sustains the cave's biota. The combination of helictites, sinter, and crystal outgrowths provides the microhabitats these species depend on, linking the geological character of the cave directly to its biological richness.

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