The Karst Living Museum

The Karst Living Museum is an invaluable treasure trove of karst phenomena.

Not many areas in the world can offer so many typical karst phenomena in a single place: dolines, collapse dolines, depressions, limestone pavements and, of course, underground caves. The living museum, presenting the natural and cultural heritage of the traditional Karst over an area of over 700 hectares, is a unique natural and environmentally important area. Its largest section forms part of Natura 2000. In 2017, the Karst Living Museum was named the best thematic trail in Slovenia.

This natural museum stretches from Sežana, Lipica and the former Slovenian–Italian border, alongside the connecting axis that was once an Austro-Hungarian road between Sežana (SLO) and Basovizza (IT). As it is located along the Italian state border, there was limited access to this area for nearly half a century. The living museum features thematic and cross-border recreational trails and well-marked points of interest. A visit to the Karst Living Museum is an exceptional experience because its area is classified as the so-called classic karst, with the highest concentration of karst phenomena, and the great number of entries in the register of protected natural values and protected natural areas. Located on its margin is the oldest tourist cave in Europe, The Vilenica Cave, and the most picturesque non-tourist cave in Slovenia, the Gustinčič Cave. Deep beneath the surface runs the Reka River that, after crossing the Italian border, is called Timav. The Karst Living Museum is crossed by the Alpe Adria Trail and the Josef Ressel Forest Educational Trail, starting in the Basovizza Natural Sciences Didactic Centre (IT) and finishing in the Equestrian Park Lipica (SLO).