Peștera cu Cristale din Mina Farcu

Crystal Cave of Farcu Mine - Farcu Crystal Cave


Useful Information

Location: Town of Rosia, Bihor County.
"Crystal Cave" signposted from the center of Rosia, 5 km drive on narrow road to Farcu Mine.
(22.423675, 46.817243)
Open: MAR to APR daily 11-16.
MAY to OCT daily 10-17.
NOV daily 11-16.
DEC to FEB daily 11-15.
[2023]
Fee: Adults RON 30, Children (5-14) Lei 15, Children (0-4) free, Family (2+1) RON 60, Family (2+2) RON 75, Family (1+2) RON 45.
Group discounts.
Members of Romanian Speleology Federation free.
[2023]
Classification: SpeleologyKarst cave
Light: LightLED Lighting
Dimension: Main cave: L=251 m, VR=16 m, T=9-12 °C.
Guided tours: L=300 m, 200 m mine adit, 100 m natural cave, D=25 min, Max=15. Romanian - Limba Română Magyarul - Hungarian
Photography: allowed, no flash
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address: Administratia Peșterii Meziad și a Peșterii cu Cristale din mina Farcu, Birou CAPDD Bihor, Mobile: +40-744-426272, Tel: +40-359-410556. 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

1445 first written mention of the twon Rosia.
1915-1916. early bauxite mining.
1940s founding of Dobresti Mining Enterprise and major increase of mining.
1950 Rosia mine opened.
1987 cave discovered during mining.
1990 mine cosed.
2012 start of development as a show cave.
20-JUN-2012 opened to the public.

Description

The Peștera cu Cristale din Mina Farcu (Crystal Cave of Farcu Mine) is a natural cave discovered during the bauxite mining in the area of Rosia de Bihor. Actually during the exploitation of the bauxite a total of nine caves were discovered. Two of them are now part of the tourist trail.

As the site is a mixture of mining, natural cave and minerals, so is the tour. About two thirds of the tourist trail are in the mine tunnels and show the historic tools of mining, like carbide lamps and various mining machines. There are ore trolleys which were pulled by winch.

The trail through the cave was created using the most recent technology, an evelevated path which does not destroy the cave environment and could be removed at any time without hrm to the cave. Also the light uses modern LED lamps. A ticket office in a small boxwork hut and numerous explanatory signs around the cave complete the infrastructure. It seems the development was partly financed by the EU and Switzerland. The idea is to bring work and money to the area which was really poor after the mine closed twenty years ago.

The cave contains normal speleothems like stalactites and stalagmites, but also a variety of minerals.