Marble cave is a karst

KARST

Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...

 limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 cave

Cave

A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...

 located in Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

, in the municipality of Lipljan. Much of it is still unexplored.

Location

The Marble Cave is located in the village of Donje Gadimlje, in the vicinity of Pristina

Pristina

Pristina, also spelled Prishtina and Priština is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality and district....

 (20 km). It lies 360 km from Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

 and 65 km from Skopje

Skopje

Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

.

The Cave

The entrance to the cave was discovered in 1966 by Ahmet Diti while he was building an extension to his house. The cave was opened to tourists in 1976. The total length of the cave is 1260 m and the tourist path is 440 m long. The air temperature ranges from 12 C to 15 C, the relative humidity is less than 100% and the air velocity is between 5 and 10 m/s.

The cave is made up of marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

 peaks formed by the metamorphosis

Metamorphism

Metamorphism is the solid-state recrystallization of pre-existing rocks due to changes in physical and chemical conditions, primarily heat, pressure, and the introduction of chemically active fluids. Mineralogical, chemical and crystallographic changes can occur during this process...

of limestone, a very rare phenomenon. The following can be differentiated in the cave: the Entrance and Western, Northern and Eastern Galleries. Massive pillars are predominant in the halls while the ceiling is covered with stalactites. Many pillars reach heights of up to 5 meters and they are covered with spikes, which is a special oddity of the cave. Ornaments are in different colours, ranging from aragonite white crystal to red, with all shades in between these two contrasting colours.