Geissenklösterle

Geissenklösterle is an archaeological site of significance for the central European Upper Paleolithic, located near the town of Blaubeuren in the Swabian Jura. First explored in 1963, the cave contains traces of early prehistoric art from between 43,000 and 30,000 years ago, including some of the oldest-known musical instruments and several animal figurines. Because of the historical and cultural importance of these findings, in 2017 the site became part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura. These archaeological sites feature some of the oldest figurative art worldwide and help shed light on the origins of human artistic development.

Unesco: Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura
Tag: Missing UNESCO
Date: Dec 20

Yungang Grottoes

The Yungang Grottoes, in Datong city, Shanxi Province, with their 252 caves and 51,000 statues, represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China in the 5th and 6th centuries. The Five Caves created by Tan Yao, with their strict unity of layout and design, constitute a classical masterpiece of the first peak of Chinese Buddhist art. 

Unesco: Yungang Grottoes
RR: Unesco RR
Date: Nov 17

Blue Lake Cave

Gruta do Lago Azul Natural Monument is a natural monument in Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul. It holds two caves with interesting but fragile calcareous formations, and has been listed as a protected area since 1978. The Gruta do Lago Azul has a circular entrance, about 40 metres in diameter, illuminating the lake with sunshine. Between the months of September and February the waters take on an intense blue color, for which the lake is named. Fossil bones have been found of large mammals that inhabited the region for more than 12,000 years in the Pleistocene. These include giant sloths, armadillos and sabre-toothed tigers.

RR: 10 Countries RR (20)
Date: July 18

Lake Superior

Centuries ago the glaciers sculpted these sea caves embedded in the rocks along the Lake Superior shoreline. Sea caves such as these can be found in Tettegouche State Park along Lake Superior's North Shore and in the Apostle Islands.

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, located at the northern tip of Wisconsin's Bayfield Peninsula, features 21 stunning islands, a scenic 12-mile shoreline along Lake Superior, and is located within the ancestral homeland of the Ojibwe people. Established in 1970, the park showcases picturesque sea caves, sandy beaches, and the largest collection of lighthouses in the National Park system.

Tag: Favourites tag
Date: June 14

Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves are indeed a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in central Maharashtra, about 100 km from Aurangabad. They consist of 29 rock-cut cave monuments dating from the second century BCE to about 480 CE. They consist of monasteries (vaharas) and prayer halls (Chaityas) adorned with Buddhist religious art. The caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art.

Unesco: Ajanta Caves
RR: March alternative RR
Date: March 12

Gombasek Cave

Gombasek Cave is a karst cave located in the Slovak Karst National Park, in the Slaná river valley. Since 1995, the Gombasek Cave is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as a part of the Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst site because of its exemplary speleothems and its record of karst formation under varying conditions, including periods of glaciation and temperate, and tropical climatic conditions.

Unesco: Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst
RR: 10x10 RR
Date: March 3

Lord Murugan

Sculpted by master artisans from India, Lord Murugan looms 42 metres high beside the 272 steps leading to Batu Caves complex.

The Batu Caves Murugan Statue is a striking monument located at the Batu Caves in Malaysia, just north of Kuala Lumpur. The statue is situated at the foot of the Batu Caves, a series of limestone caves housing Hindu temples and shrines. Constructed over three years and completed in 2006, the statue is made of 250 tons of steel bars, 1,550 cubic meters of concrete, and 300 liters of gold paint brought from Thailand. Lord Murugan is depicted holding a vel and standing in a majestic and commanding pose, symbolizing his role as the god of war and victory t.he Batu Caves themselves are a popular tourist attraction and an important religious site, particularly during the annual Thaipusam festival, when thousands of devotees perform acts of penance and carry kavadis up the 272 steps leading to the main cave temple. The festival is marked by vibrant processions, music, and devotional activities, highlighting the cultural and spiritual significance of the site.

RR: 10 Countries RR (20)
Date: Dec 7

Yungang Grottoes

The massive Yungang Buddhist grottoes were cut from the mid-5th Century to early-6th Century AD. Comprising 252 caves and niches and 51,000 statues within a carved area of 18,000 square meters, the Yungang Grottoes represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China. The Five Caves created by Tan Yao are a classical masterpiece of the first peak of Chinese art, with a strict unity of layout and design. The 14m-tall seated Buddha of Cave 20 is an icon of Chinese art, comparable to the colossal exposed Buddhas of Dunhuang and Longmen. It was originally flanked by a pair of smaller standing buddhas, of which only the eastern figure now remains.

Unesco: Yungang Grottoes
RR: Unesco RR
Date: Sept 1

Cave of Altamira

The Cave of Altamira is a cave complex, located near the historic town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain. It is renowned for prehistoric cave art featuring charcoal drawings and polychrome paintings of contemporary local fauna and human hands. The earliest paintings were applied during the Upper Paleolithic, around 36,000 years ago .Altamira is located in the Franco-Cantabrian region and in 1985 was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as a key location of the Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain.

Unesco: Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain
RR: Unesco RR
Date: April 2

Magura Cave

The Magura Cave is located in northeastern Bulgaria, 17 km from Belogradchik. It is one of the largest and most beautiful caves in Bulgaria. The Magura cave was formed in the limestone Rabisha Hill. It consists of the main gallery and three side branches. The overall length of the cave is approximately 2500 meters. According to geological studies, The Magura Cave began to take shape about 15 million years ago. In one of the caverns prehistoric paintings have been discovered, carved into the walls and decorated with bat guano. The paintings depict the silhouettes of women, men dancing and hunting, people wearing masks, animals, stars, tools, and plants. The paintings date from different eras: the early Paleolithic, the Neolithic, the later Neolithic, and the beginning of the Bronze Age. A solar calendar from the late Neolithic found there is the earliest solar calendar discovered in Europe. The cave offers one of the richest collections of geological formations, of all shapes and sizes, stalactites, stalagmites, columns, Geodesic formations, cave pearls, and flows of cave milk.

Many thanks Lora!
Date: March 17

Ochtinská Aragonite Cave

Ochtinská Aragonite Cave is a unique aragonite cave situated in southern Slovakia, near Rožňava. Although only 300 m long, it is famous for its rare aragonite formations. Along with other caves of the Slovak Karst, it is included in the UNESCO World Heritage list as a component of Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst site, because of its diversity of aragonite formations and testimony to the cave-forming geologic processes. The Ochtinská Aragonite Cave is one of only three aragonite caves discovered in the world so far. In the so-called Milky Way Hall, the main attraction of the cave, white branches and clusters of aragonite shine like stars in the Milky Way. 

Unesco: Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst
RR: Unesco RR
Date: Dec 27

Yungang Grottoes, Mogao Caves, Longmen Grottoes

The Yungang Grottoes, in Datong city, Shanxi Province, with their 252 caves and 51,000 statues, represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China in the 5th and 6th centuries. The Five Caves created by Tan Yao, with their strict unity of layout and design, constitute a classical masterpiece of the first peak of Chinese Buddhist art.

Situated at a strategic point along the Silk Route, at the crossroads of trade as well as religious, cultural and intellectual influences, the 492 cells and cave sanctuaries in Mogao are famous for their statues and wall paintings, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art.

The grottoes and niches of Longmen contain the largest and most impressive collection of Chinese art of the late Northern Wei and Tang Dynasties (316-907). These works, entirely devoted to the Buddhist religion, represent the high point of Chinese stone carving.

Unesco: Yungang Grottoes
Mogao Caves
Longmen Grottoes

Tag: Offer tag
Date: Dec 3

Ajanta & Ellora Caves

Ajanta and Ellora are two monumental rock-cut caves that define Indian art and architectural accomplishment. Though these two monuments are separated by a distance of approximately 100 km, they are often mentioned together since their aesthetics and importance are at par and the fact that both are situated in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. While Ajanta is mostly about beautiful paintings made on cave walls on the theme of Buddhism, Ellora is all about sculpture and architecture belonging to three different religions prevailing in the country during those times: Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism.

Ellora caves comprise 34 monasteries and temples, dug side by side in the wall of a high basalt cliff, extending over more than 2 km. The caves were built during the 5th to 10th centuries, and represent one of the finest examples of Indian rock-cut architecture.

Ajanta is a cluster of 30 caves of different sizes excavated in a horseshoe shaped stretch of rock embedded in a hill facing a narrow stream called Waghora.

Unesco: Ajanta Caves - Ellora Caves
Tag: Missing Unesco tag
Date: Oct 30

Baradla cave

Aggtelek National Park is a national park in Northern Hungary, in the Aggtelek Karst region. The most significant values of the national park are the special surface formations and caves in this limestone landscape. The park consists of 280 caves with different sizes. It covers a total area of 198.92 km2. The largest stalactite cave of Europe is situated here: the Baradla cave, 26 km long. A significant part of the cave has varied colors and shapes providing an unparalleled spectacle of decorative stalactites. The cave has a natural entrance at Aggtelek, at the foot of a high white cliff that overlooks the edge of the village. The Aggtelek National Park itself was founded in 1985. It has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 1995 along with the Slovak Karst caves.

Unesco: Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst
Lottery: Unesco Postcards
Date: Oct 3

Benagil Cave

Benagil is a small Portuguese village on the Atlantic coast in Algarve. The Benagil Cave is its main tourist attractionl. Out of all sea caves that dot the Algarve coastline between Lagos and Albufeira, the Benagil Cave is the only one that has been eroded both from the side and from the top. This unique natural process has resulted in an opening in the ceiling that allows the sunlight to brighten up the grotto and the beach that it hides. It can only be accessed from the water and small tour boats tend to queue at the entrance to pass through this unique sea cave.

RR: 10 Countries RR (20)
Date: May 21

Buchan Caves

The Buchan Caves are a group of limestone caves that include the Royal Cave and the Fairy Cave, located south-west of Buchan, in the East Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. They have a total length of  3-4 kilometres.  Fairy Cave features elaborate stalactites and stalagmites, highly adorned passages and impressive decorations throughout cave. 

Thanks a lot Marnie!
Date: June 13

Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian

Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian is a Pleistocene hominid site on the North China Plain. This site lies about 42 km south-west of Beijing and is at the juncture of the North China Plain and the Yanshan Mountains. So far, ancient human fossils, cultural remains and animal fossils from 23 localities within the property dating from 5 million years ago to 10,000 years ago have been discovered by scientists. The site is not only an exceptional reminder of the prehistorical human societies of the Asian continent, but also illustrates the process of evolution.

Unesco: Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian
RR: 10 Countries RR (20)
Date: Jan 22

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Although both Stalagmites and stalactites are common cave formations, their creation is different. A stalagmite grows from the floor upward as drops of calcite-laden water fall from the ceiling, creating an ever-growing mound of calcite. A stalactite grows from the ceiling down as calcite-laden water seeps into a space and hangs on the ceiling. The water evaporates very slowly, leaving behind the calcite mineral. An incalculable number of drops must evaporate to create a large hanging formation.

Unesco: Carlsbad Caverns National Park
RR: Unesco RR
Date: Feb 13

Howe Caverns

Howe Caverns is the largest show cave in the Northeast U.S., and is the second most visited natural attraction in the state of New York. It was discovered in 1842, located in Schoharie County, on a beautiful mountainside with spectacular views overlooking the Helderberg Plateau. The cave walls are composed mainly of two types of limestone from different periods in the Earth's early history, deposited hundreds of millions of years ago when the Atlantic Ocean stretched far inland. The cave contains an underground lake, called the Lake of Venus, as well as many speleothems.Colorful lights illuminate the caves, reflecting off the pool of water at the bottom, the River Styx.

RR: Weekly RR
Date: Jan 25

Mogao Caves

The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples 25 km southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years. The first caves were dug out in AD 366 as places of Buddhist meditation and worship. The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of the three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China.

Unesco: Mogao Caves
RR: Unesco RR
Date: Nov 22