Opened for the expert public. They were discovered by Nikola Turkalj during the construction of a railway.
Donja cave was discovered on October 30, 1913 and Gornja was previously known to the locals as Kesića cavern.
History of the caves
Cerovac caves are located on the northeastern slopes of Crnopac, below the south border of Gračačko field. There are 3 currently known caves: Gornja, Srednja i Donja. Cerovac caves were named after a nearby railway station Cerovac although Gornja cave was familiar to locals who used the name Kesića cavern. Donja cave was discovered in 1913 during the construction of the railway to Split. We can thank engineer Nikola Turkalj for the exploration, promotion and preservation of the cave. Donja cave was named Turkaljeva cavern in his honor. The first known speleological drawing of Gornja Cerovac cave was made in 1950 by Slavko Marjanac. Drawings and plans of Gornja and Donja cave were made in 1951 by Krešimir Polák. They were followed by numerous research projects and drafts of multiple topographic outlines by several speleological associations from Croatia (SO HPD Željezničar, SO PDS Velebit, Speleological society of Croatia which was renamed into SD Karlovac and others). Multiple explorers include Vladimir Redenšek, Mirko Malez, Srećko Božičević, Zlatko Pepeonik, Ozren Lukić and others.
Some of the most important events for Cerovac caves:
1913.
1914.
N. Turkalj published the first contours of the cave in magazine Obzor
1936.
First attempt of using the caves as tourist sites
1951.
The beginning of systematic tourist administration
1961.
Caves protected as a geomorphological monument of nature
1965.
Printing of the monography 'Cerovac caves' by the author dr. Mirko Malez
1967.
The discovery of new parts of Donja cave behind the then unknown impassable narrowing
1977.
electrification of the tourist path
1991.
caves closed due to the war
1998.
Reinitiation of tourist visits
1997. – 2002.
The continuation of sporadic research (SO Velebit, SO Željezničar)
2006.
The draftings of new outlines and systematic speleological research (SD Karlovac)
2015.
Discovery of new parts of Gornja Cerovac cave
