Утробата

Utrobata

Useful Information

Location:	20 km from Kardzali, near Ilinitsa. (41.7048489, 25.2481141)
Open:	no restrictions. [2023]
Fee:	free. [2023]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=22 m, W=2.5 m
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Utrobata, Tel: +359-.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2002	first visited by Archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov.

Description

Утробата (Utrobata) translates The Womb, and is obviously a reference to the cave entrance which resembles a human vagina. It seems that English-speaking people are a little shameful and therefore unable to translate the name because of the sexual innuendo, they call it thus Utroba Cave. We do not have this problem and use the transliterated original name. The cave is also named Пещера Утроба (Peshtera Utroba, Womb Cave), but the locals actually call it Ревяща скала (Blaring Rock).

This is a small cave, and it is not developed, the importance of this cave lies in the archaeological remains which were found here. Archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov, Bulgaria’s 'Indiana Jones', speculates that this cave was a Thracian sanctuary around the 11-10th centuries BC. However, there is little evidence as the cave does not have much content. Some articles about the cave hint that the spectacular form is a result of humans carving it that way, but actually this form is natural and quite typical for cave which formed aling a vertical crack. We have listed another cave with a similar form and a similar name not far away. A sun rays which falls into the cave through a small opening in the ceiling shows only around noon, when the light falls almost vertical. It is described as a phallus-shaped ray of sunlight and the place where it hits the ground is said to be an altar. Obviously the trace of the sunlight changes over the year from day to day.

There are stories of a 1.3 m high altar which was sculpted to form the inner lips of the vulva, but this object either never existed or it was removed. If it was not removed by the archaeologists it was probably stolen and sold by one of the 500 tomb raiding criminal which currently destroy archaeological site all over the country. At the moment archaeological artifacts are a close third in income after drugs and prostitution.

While even the archaeological examination of the cave seems to be a sort of legend, there is actually a local legend. It says that childless couples who go into the cave on December 21 or 22, on the winter solstice, will conceive a child. On this day the light actually reaches the altar and enters a hole in this altar, which is considered to symbolise fertilisation by the sun god. The sacred coitus between the sun and the rock symbolises the rebirth of life or something. And to add another legend, some believe this local lore is actually the oral tradition of the Thracian fertility cult.

All the descriptions we read about the cave either repeat bogus statements from others or invent their own. It seems that people act like they are on drugs because of the sexually charged name. Some say the sun day is in late February, others say in late March, but its obviously winter solstice, when the sun is lowest and the ray thus reaches furthest into the cave. Also, there is almost no modification of the cave by the Thrakians, those statements are wrong, the cave is obviously more or less in its natural state. Some even state that this is the only cave of this type in Bulgaria or even in the world. This is complete nonsense, caves with this typical vagina-like lenticular cross-section are quite common. The second in Bulgaria is only 30 km to the southeast, and there are definitely dozens more in the Rhodopes. One half of those caves is vertical as here, the others are more or less horizontal, depending on whether they were formed by a vertical crack or a stratum joint. They can be seen quite frequently all over the world, these are just the only two with that name. And that’s the reason why there are so many pages on the web which show pictures of another cave which looks quite similar, and stat it was Womb Cave.

And then there is the crude statement that the inside of the cave uterus, which is the actual reason why it is called womb cave, not vagina cave. Actually I do not know ho a womb looks like form inside, as I am not a gynecologist. There is probably a sack of connective tissue that has collapsed and only becomes a uterus when it fills with water during pregnancy. At no time is there an open duct with a lenticular cross-section. And this also explains why there are no other womb caves in the world. But the fact that there is no "cunt cave" is incomprehensible.

The cave is very small, has a horizontal floor and is very easy to visit. A torch may be useful but is not necessary, the cave is so tiny, the light from the entrance is sufficient. There is a poor trail from the road in the valley, which leads up to the cave, it is about 2 km long with an elevation gain of about 400 m, so depending on your fitness this is about an hour walk. The cave is really tiny, and far less unique than what other pages tell, we can only recommend a visit if you are already in the area and fond of hiking.