Peştera Ialomita

Peștera Ialomiței - Lalomita Cave


Useful Information

Location: In the Munṭii Bucegi (Mountains of Bucegi) DN 71, From the South turn left in Moroieni village at the Sanatorium, from the North turn right on the Paduchiosul. Both roads meet, then follow the road to the north along Bolboci Lake and Tatarului Gorges to the monastic complex Peştera.
(45.393036, 25.436876)
Open: OCT to APR daily 9-16.
MAY to SEP daily 9-18.
[2020]
Fee: Adults RON 10, Children (6-18) RON 5, Students RON 5, Seniors RON 5.
[2020]
Classification: SpeleologyKarst cave
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension: L=1,128 m, A=1,660 m asl., T=4-6 °C, H=85-100%. Portal: H=20 m, W=16 m.
Guided tours: L=450 m,
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography: Mihai Haret (1924): Pestera Ialomitei si Casa Pestera, Romanian - Limba Română.
Address: Peştera Ialomita, Bucegi Natural Park, Aleea Peștera Ialomiței, Moroeni 137313, Tel: +40-753-022-125, Tel: +40-729-073-122, Fax: +40-245-207-687. 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

15th century hermits live at the cave.
16th century Mihnea Voda, king of Wallachia, builds a wooden hermitage.
1752 first written mention of the hermitage.
1793 first written mention of the cave by I. Kleinlantz.
1818 burnt down completely
1819 new monastery errected.
1940 burnt down completely.
1940-1942 rebuilt by Hieromonk Mihail Badila.
1957 hermitage owned by the Sinaia Monastery.
20-APR-1961 last fire destroying the monastery completely.
1991 transferred into the canonical jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Târgoviste.
1993-1996 rebuilding of the complex.

Description

The Ialomita River flows down the Ialomita valley. Its spring is in the Bucegi Mountains, at the foot of Mount Omu. Near the spring, the entrance to Ialomita Cave opens. The shelter of this huge portal, known for a very long time, was early used to build an Orthodox monastery.

The church and the cells of the monks were built of wood, and burned down four times during the last 400 years, but they were always rebuild. One should think they either use stone the next time or stop smoking. However, the last time it burned down in 1961 Romania was a communist country in the Warsaw Pact and religion not very popular. So it was not immediately rebuilt again, it took until 1993 after the Cold War had ended. And again it was built of wood.

Peştera Ialomiţa (Ialomiţa Cave) is also known as Peştera Regilor (Kings’ Cave). The entrance chamber is named Mihnea Voda after the king of Wallachia, who built a wooden hermitage at the entrance in the first half of the 16th century. Today the moastery is built right in front of the cave portal blocking the access to the cave completely. Fortunately the architect added a door in the middle which allows access to a sort of inner courtyard which is already inside the cave. Here the small chapel is built into the cave portal. Unlike other cave churches it does not use the walls or ceiling of the cave, it is built completely with four walls and ceiling inside the huge chamber.

Here is the ticket office and the starting point of the cave tours. You can spend the waiting time buying Christian knick-knacks. The cave was developed with an elevated path with railings and modern light system. The cave is a river passage, some parts are the result of massive collapse, the walls and ceilings show almost no speleothems. Some people are rather pissed due to the lack of speleothems, but actually the geologic specialties of this cave are quite interesting. And the Grote Ursilor (Bear Chamber) has quite impressive dimensions, despite the complete lack of bears.

After the portal the cave becomes smaller and there are some places where it is necessary to stoop. So its probably a good idea to wear the helmets which are provided. Also the tour goes up the equivalent of a 10 storey building, so the cave tour is not suitable for people with medical problems.