Ialomiței Cave

Ialomița Cave is located in the Bucegi Mountains and is one of the best-known caves in Romania.

It lies on the right slope of the Ialomița Gorge, in the village of Moroeni, Dâmbovița County, on Bătrâna Mountain, about 10 km from the Ialomița River’s source, at an altitude of 1,530 meters. The cave is positioned approximately 100 m downstream from the frontal moraine of the Ialomița Glacier, at an absolute altitude of 1,660 meters.

The cave extends over a single level, with a length of about 480 meters, out of which 400 meters are accessible to tourists, up to the point called “the Altar”, followed by an upstream segment of another 80 meters with galleries and chambers. The vertical difference is 60 meters. A small stream flows through the cave. Its formation is mixed, including both galleries and chambers.

The cave’s entrance, shaped like a semi-ellipse, opens onto a horizontal terrace situated 18 meters above the valley floor. Right at the entrance stands the Ialomița Monastery, built in the 16th century by the ruler of Wallachia, Mihnea the Evil. The monastery has been destroyed by fire several times throughout history.

The first chamber of the cave is named “Mihnea Vodă”, and it measures 115 m in length, 15 m in width, and 10–25 m in height. Before 1924, the Cave River flowed through this grotto. Today, the stream enters the underground before reaching the cave and reemerges much further down into the Ialomița River.

Next comes the Passage Gallery, 20 meters long and 1–8 meters wide, with a height ranging from 1.5 to 2 meters. The Decebal Hall (dome-shaped, from which several galleries branch off) and Saint Mary Hall are modest in size: lengths between 10 and 30 meters, and heights of 2 to 10 meters. To reach Saint Mary’s Grotto, one must cross a threshold of large, wet boulders. The name of the hall comes from a stalagmite that resembles a statue of the Virgin Mary.

The largest chamber of the cave is Bear Hall (Sala Urșilor), which is dry and has a rocky floor. When it was discovered, many bones and even complete skeletons of cave bears (Ursus Spelaeus Blum) were found—some even lying on the surface, suggesting that this may have been among their last shelters around 10,000 years ago.

After a new gallery of 40 meters, one reaches the Crossroads Hall and then the largest space in the entire cave: Bear Hall or the Great Hall, measuring 72 m in length, 35 m in width, and 25 m in height. Other chambers include Hades Hall. From Bear Hall, a 2-meter-high gallery opens, known as “the Bottom of the Cave”, which used to have many columns connecting the ceiling to the floor.

The Water Gallery follows, leading to the Altar, where the Cave Stream flows. The cave is accessible to tourists up to the Altar, where the stalactites are arranged in such a way that they resemble a church altar.