Which Slovak cave is famous for rare aragonite formations and was discovered in 1954?

Ochtinská Aragonite Cave is the Slovak cave famous for rare aragonite formations and discovered in 1954.

The cave is in southern Slovakia near Rožňava, within the Slovak Karst. Martin Cangár and Jiri Prosek discovered it in 1954, and it opened to visitors in 1972. Although the cave is only about 300 metres long, its unusual mineral decoration makes it internationally notable.

Aragonite is a calcium carbonate mineral, but unlike the more familiar calcite stalactites and stalagmites, it often forms delicate needles, branches, and star-like clusters. In the cave’s Milky Way Hall, white aragonite growths spread across the dark rock like a field of stars. Some of the oldest formations are estimated at 120,000 to 130,000 years old, while younger growths date to about 14,000 years ago.

A common mix-up is treating the cave as an ice cave because of its white formations. Dobšiná Ice Cave is a different Slovak site; Ochtinská is celebrated for mineral aragonite, not glacial ice.