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| Image: The entrance to Grotta Gigante lies in a suburb of Trieste, Borgo Grotta Gigante. |
| Location: | In the village Grotta Gigante, North of Trieste. (45°42'34.77"N, 13°45'53.27"E) |
| Open: |
Nov-Feb, Tue-Sun, 10-12, 14-16, visits every hour.
Mar, Tue-Sun, 10-16, visits every hour.
Apr-Sep, Tue-Sun, 10-18, visits every half hour.
Jul-Aug, daily, 10-18, visits every half hour.
Oct, Tue-Sun, 10-16, visits every hour. Closed 01-JAN, 25-DEC. |
| Fee: |
Adults EUR 7.50, Children (6-12) EUR 5.50, Members of Club Alpino Italiano (C.A.I.) EUR 5.50, Members of Touring Club Italiano (T.C.I.) EUR 5.50, SSI EUR 5.50, Soldiers EUR 5.50.
Groups (25+): Adults EUR 5.50, Schools EUR 4. [2003] |
| Classification: |
 Karst cave.
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| Light: | electric. |
| Dimension: | H=107m, L=280m, W=65m, T=12°C. |
| Guided tours: | D=45min |
| Bibliography: | |
| Address: |
Società Alpina delle Giulie di Trieste, Commissione Grotte "Eugenio Boegan", Via Donota 2, 34100 Trieste,
Tel: +390-40-630464, Fax: +390-40-368550, e-mail Grotta Gigante, I-34010 Sgonico, (Trieste), Tel: +390-40-327312, Fax: +390-40-368550 |
| Last update: | $Date: 2010/05/19 23:24:53 $ |
| 1840 | first exploration of the cave by Antonio Federico Lindner. | |
| 1890 | second entrance near todays Museo di Speleologia discovered and explorations increased. | |
| 1904 | start of development as a showcave by the Club dei Touristi Triestini. | |
| 05-JUL-1908 | opened to the public, lighted by 4000 candles. | |
| 1957 | electric light installed. | |
| 1995 | included into the Guiness' Book of World Records. | |
| 1996 | new paths built, separate exit. |
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| Image: main chamber. |
Grotta Gigante is a reallz huge single cavern, 280m long, 65m wide and
107m high.
Some small tunnels exist, but are not part of the tour.
The cave is part of the system of the underground river Timavo, which
enters the karst in
Škocjanske Jame,
nearby in Slovenia.
A seismograph, the longest geodetical pendula in the world, and other instruments for the measurement of the land tide are in function within the cave. Land tide is the extremely small movement of the Earths crust, because of the gravity of the moon. It is caused by the same mechanism as water tide, but the impact on solid matter is much smaller and therefore much harder to detect.
One very imortant reason for this location was the constant temperature of 12°Celsius, another was the height of the cavern. The instruments consist mainly of a 100m high pendulum.
The cave has very large stalagmites, with a special look.
They are called
palm trunc stalagmites
or plate stack stalagmite because of their characteristic form.
The palm trunc stalagmite is typical for a big chambers close to the surface.
Because of the extraordinary high ceiling, the falling water drops get very fast. When they hit the ground, the high energy of the drip makes it burst into a spray of water. The area the spray covers depends on the size of the original drop which depends on the amount of water from the surface. So the diameter of the stalacmite varies very much with the climatic changes outside the cave. Every plate of the stack represents a period of sufficient water.
Near the entrance of the cave is a Museum of Speleology with geological, speleological and archaeological exhibits.
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| Grotta Gigante Gallery |
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