Špilja Feštinsko Kraljevstvo

Festinsko Kraljevstvo Cave - Feštin Kingdom Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Near Feštini, Žminj. A8 exit Žminj, through Žminj then southeast towards Cere, Barban. Turn right before Cere.
Open:	APR to MAY Sat, Sun, Hol 10-18. JUN to SEP daily 10-18. OCT Sat, Sun, Hol 10-18. [2020]
Fee:	Adults HRK 50, Children (5-18) HRK 30, Children (0-4) free. Groups (10+): Adults HRK 40, Children (5-18) HRK 25. [2020]
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	L=60 m, W=27 m, VR=9 m, T=13-15 °C.
Guided tours:	L=100 m, D=20 min.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Špilja Feštinsko Kraljevstvo, Feštini, Žminj, Tel: +385-91-561-6327. E-mail: Turistička zajednica grada Rovinja Rovigno, Pina Budicina 12, 52210 Rovinj, Tel.: ++385/52/811-566, Tel.: ++385/52/813-469, Fax: ++385/52/816-007, E-mail:
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

193?	discovered by Tone Bozac while he planted vine.
194?	first explored by the locals, in search of an air raid shelter.
1990	Silvio Legovic and other cavers from Pazin explore and survey the cave.
2008	opened to the public.

Description

The Spilja "Feštinsko kraljevstvo" (Feštini Kingdom Cave) is located in the farmstead Feštini near Žminj. The cave was discovered by Tone Božac, called Fraitar, while working on the wineyard. He was digging holes to plant new grapevines when his pick fell through a hole and into the cave below. He tried to fill it up to prevent an accident, but the dirt kept falling into the cave and he soon found out that he never would be able to fill this huge hole. So the cave entrance remained open.

That's actually a typical story for this area, as all wine yards are located on the floor of dolines. This area is speckled with dolines, each of them with a small patch of terra rossa on the floor. And while the surrounding area is rocky and often dry, the floor of the dolines is fertile and collects the water in the soil. As a result farming in this area is concentrated on the doline floors. But on the other hand dolines are collapsed caves and often they are the entrance into such a cave. And so it is not unusual that peasant Fraitar turned a rock to find a cave beneath.

The cave was not explored for ten years, but in the 1940s, during the Italian occupation of Istria, the locals were in search for an air raid shelter. So they started to widen the hole in the vineyard and soon found a dripstone cave. Children from the neighboring villages visited the cave, and when their parents asked where they had been, they answered they had been in the kingdom at Feštini. So the cave was soon known under the name Feštini Kingdom. During World War II all adult men of the village Feštini were killed, only Josip "Bepo" Božac, the son of Fraitar, survived because he hid in the cave. Nevertheless the cave entrance was filled in after the war.

The cave was made accessible by the construction of a stone staircase leading down into the cave. There is a trail of some 100 m inside the cave. The whole village Feštini are actually a few farm buildings, the vineyards, a shelter and kiosk at the cave entrance and of course the cave entrance.