Geography

The cave is close to the city of Zonguldak

Zonguldak

Zonguldak is a city and the capital of Zonguldak Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Its population, according to the 2009 census, was 108,792. It is an important port on the Black Sea because of the coal mining in Zonguldak Province...

 where the bird's flight distance to the city is about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi). The mouth of the cave is at the roadside of Turkish state road , at about 41°26′35"N 31°49′53"E with an altitude of 150 metres (492.1 ft).

History

The cave was discovered in 1976 by Temuçen Aygen, Chris Mauer and Harvery Lomas Between 1997 and 2001 it was arranged for touristic visits. Due to its vicinity to main road, the number of visitors is quite high and in the first three years between 2001 to 2003, the cave had about 98000 visitors.

Technical details

The total length of the cave is 3350 metres (10,990.8 ft). But only the first 875 metres (2,870.7 ft) gallery is open to visits. The gallery in this part is quite level and can easily be accessed. The width of the gallery is 2 to 15 m. and the height is 1 to 18 m. The cave is full of stalactites and stalagmites.