Lipica, Postojna

The Lipizzaner breed originates from Lipica from where it has been exported all over the world. The task of the original, royal stud farm of Lipica was to breed elegant cart and saddle horses for the Habsburg court and the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Today, the Lipizzaner is bred in six national stud farms: Piber in Austria, Dakovo in Croatia, Fara Sabina in Italy, Szilvasvarad in Hungary,

Simbata de Jos in Romania, Topolcianky in Slovakia and Karadjordjevo in Serbia. The work of many breeding organisations around the world plays an important role in the promotion of Lipizzaners in both breeding and equestrian terms. Such organisations are found in all of the above countries, in most Western-European countries and even in the USA, Australia and South Africa.

Postojna Cave, now in its second century of attracting throngs of admirers from all over the world, was also a challenge for the bold explorers of the underworld who, with patience and perseverance, penetrated ever deeper underground. It is thanks to the far-sighted managers of the cave that the newly discovered sections were quickly made suitable for mass visits.

The visitor's curiosity is satisfied by facts about the formation of caves, a guided visit through passages and chambers and, above all, by observing the stalactites hanging from the ceiling, the stalagmites growing up from the floor, the pillars formed when stalactites and stalagmites meet, the folds of calcite curtains and the other sequences of fantastic shapes and forms.

The desire for knowledge has also prompted experts in karst phenomena and life in the karst to research the special geological features of the cave, the formation and development of speleothems (the generic term for calcite formations in caves), and the living creatures that are found in caves, both those that have strayed underground by chance and those that have adapted to life in eternal darkness.