If you visit the Castle and Manor House in Liptovský Hrádek, you will also have the opportunity to look into the underground spaces of the castle cave during the tour. This underground space crosses the castle cliff for more than a hundred metres. However, do not expect stalactite decorations or vast underground spaces. The cave is just a wider fissure in the rock, through which the passage is a real adrenaline rush. Therefore, it is not possible, and especially not safe, to visit its spaces.
The Hrádok Cave, which leads through the castle cliff, is also presented by the exhibition of caving, which is located directly in the medieval castle.
The cave was formed by the centuries-old activity of the Bela River, which gradually expanded the rock outcrop into its present form. At the time when the castle was built on the isolated dolomite cliff in the 14th century, the cave began to be used as a waste pit, where most of the waste from the castle kitchen ended up. We know this thanks to the findings discovered by members of the Slovak Speleological Society, who have been exploring the cave since 2018 with the support of Dagmar Machová, the owner of the Castle and Manor House. The finds are mostly represented by shards from clay or glass vessels, metal objects, or bones of domestic and farm animals.
Among the rarer finds that come from the Hrádocka Cave area are the remains of a praatur, an animal that became extinct in the 17th century. We also include a bone cube, which was discovered in one of the cave caverns. It shows that the castle lords also played dice games. The most significant find from the castle cave is a Roman coin from the 4th century AD. It probably came into the cave among the alluvial deposits during the floods from the nearby trade route.
Like any good castle, the one in Liptovský Hrádek is also shrouded in legends. One of them speaks of secret passages that were supposed to lead from the castle to several places in Liptov. The entrance to them was supposed to lead through the castle cave.
