>
On the trail leading to Bezdiven Peak (1140 m) starting from the starting point of the route (starting from the old water pumps in Nenkovo village), we reach Hayrenlar, the abandoned village of S. Nenkovo, where stopping to enjoy the spectacular view of the surrounding hills and valleys, and the peace and quiet of nature, in the distance, looking to the east, to the not far away (which is 600 m away, located and about 250 m above the sanctuary Kalpak kayarock massif, we could find one of the mystical, mysterious and interesting stone faces (with their eyes directed in the direction of the sunrise), which are seen in many places in Bulgaria, but as if in the Rhodope Mountains, their images carry a magic, something divine. And looking at them, we have a lot of questions, how did they appear, what is their symbolism, do they depict a particular deity, do they contemplate the infinity of the sky, what is the emotion they express, to unravel this and the answers to these questions, perhaps we need to rely on our own imagination, our own emotion, state of mind and soul, with what eyes we look... The manner of their occurrence cannot be quite clear (nor has it been studied in detail), but we suppose there is no need to, that is after all their beauty and mystique. But according to some, they were created by the elements of nature, according to others, for the purpose of being sculpted to strengthen the common man's relationship with the gods (nature), endowing the stone with many secrets, faith, making it sacred, sacred - a shrine, a kind of grand monument to the faith and cult of the sky and the gods of an unscriptural people.
Reaching, by the beautiful forest path, the foot of the rock massif, facing it, facing south, we have only to shift our gaze slightly to the left, low down, from the high cliff, to notice that it holds the secret not only of the mysterious face, which, whether Mother Nature has sculptured, or whether the hand of man has also intervened, at the base of the rock massif is hidden the entrance to the cave. Even stepping in front of its entrance we are enchanted by what our eyes see, for we realize that we are standing in front of a small cave that reminds us strongly of the famous Womb Cave located nearby, about 1.5 km, in a straight line, on the opposite hill, on the left bank of the r. Blueberry, in the locality of Tangardak kaya ). Its entrance (from the northeast) is quite high, about 5 m, but it is partially blocked by a large piece of rock that probably broke off hundreds of years ago, as a result of natural climatic and natural processes of weathering and erosion of rock, therefore, its approximate length of about 34 m is shortened to about 26 m (with a natural slope of 10-15 degrees, and it is itself partially filled with earth and broken off small and larger pieces of rock and the level on which we are stepping is not actually its floor). As at the bottom of it, against the slight dusk in it, a glimmer of light can be seen, where there is another small, narrow opening, figuratively speaking an entrance, a second one (south-west-top, probably formed by the flowing water and perhaps shaped deliberately by human hand), a reduced copy of the main one to the cave, measuring about 0.70/0.40 m, unlike the one officially recorded and published (in 2001. ) Utroba cave in Tangardak Kaya, where the carved altar (about 1.30 m high) - symbolizing the uterus - can be seen at the bottom, reached by an almost perfectly shaped sunbeam (symbolizing a phallus), but only at certain times of the year, when the sun is low in the north, it could be long enough to symbolically fertilize the womb (estimated to be the months of January-February), an action which embodies the sacred relationship between the rock and the
the sun, the rebirth of life. Which is what distinguishes it from the classical type of womb-caves, but we could not help but notice, when we look at the whole cave, also the similarities, such as the crack, although more roughly shaped, running through the whole upper part (ceiling) of the cave, its overall shape of a female womb, the walls that give the feeling that this is not only the work of nature, but also of a human hand that shaped it to the form we see it today. And as we begin to study the walls of the cave more carefully, we also notice the many small, in most cases circular, of different sizes, but also of a more varied shape, niches, which we also could not say for sure whether they are the work of the continuous flow of water and natural processes, which have been in the cave for a long time, or whether they have been shaped deliberately. There is no way to be sure, without more detailed research by specialists, that we have accidentally stumbled upon a new, in the region of the Eastern Rhodopes, cave of the "wombs" type, but we have certainly discovered another, of the many hidden treasures, of this magical region, of natural and historical wonders, of amazing nature and of wonderful, kind and warm people.
But standing in it feels amazing, slightly strange, mystical, profound, brings mixed feelings, an embodiment of the power of nature, but also of human beliefs since antiquity, their sacred relationship with nature, the cult of power, of the sky, the sun, the Mother Goddess, death, rebirth (like nature itself), happening the cave-shrine located in the mountain bowels
Categories
Features
Regions
Location
Similar Listings
Add Review
Added by VisitKardzhali
Your comment