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Slovene Karst and Caves in the Past


Authors: Alenka Čuk, Trevor Shaw
Year: 2015


The caves and dramatic limestone scenery of the Slovene karst have attracted visitors for centuries. The great stalagmites and roaring underground rivers were seen by relatively few people at that time but many of them did record their experiences in diaries as well as in print. These are used in the book, which is a result of a long-time collaboration between an English historian of speleology and a Slovene historian, to describe what they saw and what they thought about it, with contemporary illustrations by contemporary artists and photographers. Modern tourism derives from the tours led by Thomas Cook who first came to Postojnska jama in 1868. Music in that cave has a very long history for dancing or concerts. This is only one example of the relation between caves and people as a constant theme in this book. Altogether the 39 chapters describe, for example, the problems facing all travellers in pre-railway days and point out that one of the very first women to explore difficult caves did so at Škocjan. Also touched upon is Darwin’s interest in Slovene cave animals and a lot more.



Table of content

PREFACE 
 
I INTRODUCTION 
1 The Karst 
2 Karst rivers on early maps 
3 Did the Argonauts go underground in the Slovene karst?
4 Some very strange “plans" of caves (c. 1750)
5 Travelling to the karst
6 Inns in the karst 
7 Visiting biologists 
8 Proteus and man (and Darwin) 
9 Speleothems from Slovene caves for sale, study and display
10 Mass-produced images – leporelli, trade cards, postcards and medals
 
II CERKNIŠKO JEZERO AND RAKOV ŠKOCJAN
11 Cerkniško jezero and how it became famous
12 Early explanations of the lake’s behaviour
13 Cerkniško jezero and its caves 
14 Rakov Škocjan 
15 Polje flood control and Viljem Putick 
 
III POSTOJNSKA JAMA 
16 Postojnska jama exploration and surveying
17 Visitors to Postojnska jama before 1818
18 Visitors to Postojnska jama after 1818
19 Thomas Cook and package tours 
20 Postojnska jama in popular books
21 Cave guides and their lights 
22 Electric lighting in Postojnska jama 
23 The underground railway in Postojnska jama
24 The Grottenfest
25 Music and Postojnska jama 
26 Painters in Postojnska jama 
27 Very early photography in Postojnska jama
28 Underground post offices in Postojnska jama
29 The other caves of Postojna. Črna, Pivka and Otoška jama
30 Ivan Andrej Perko
 
IV ŠKOCJANSKE JAME, VILENICA 
31 Škocjan and its dolines 
32 Škocjanske jame exploration
33 Škocjanske jame for tourists 
34 Škocjanske jame in 1891 – an Alpine Club excursion
35 Poldi Fuhrich at Škocjanske jame 1921-1922
36 The cave of Vilenica
 
V SOME OTHER CAVES 
37 Planinska jama
38 Predjama 
39 Sveta jama, Križna jama and Dimnice
 
REFERENCES 
INDEX 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 


More ...

Johannes Matters: TREVOR R. SHAW & ALENKA ČUK: SLOVENE KARST AND CAVES IN THE PAST; Die Höhle 67/1-4, 2016

Arrigo A. Cigna: SLOVENE KARST AND CAVES IN THE PAST; Speleologija 73, 2015

Pino Guidi: STORIA SPELEO PER IMMAGINI: IL CARSO SLOVENO NEL PASSATO; Cronache Ipogee n.8 2015

Tom Levanič: HOLOCENE BOOK REVIEWS; The Holocene Vol. 26(5) 827-829, 2016

Christophe Gauchon: LA GRANDE HISTOIRE DU KARST SLOVÈNE!; Karstologia n.66, 2014

 

 



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Keywords
16/20th century
historical surveys
history
karst (geology)
karst caves
karstology
research
researchers
Slovenia
speleology




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