Avshalom Cave, known in academic literature as Soreq Cave or Stalactites Cave, is a 5,000 m2 cave on the western side of Mt. Ye’ela, in the Judean hills in Israel, unique for its dense concentration of stalactites and other cave formations.
In May 1968, workers at the Hartuv quarry in the Judean Hills were quarrying with explosives. Each blast was much like the one before, until a strange gap opened up in the rock face. Peering inside, the men discovered a large cave, its roof dripping with stalactites, the oldest of which would later be dated to around 300,000 years old.
After its discovery, local authorities decided to keep the cave a secret, fearing the ancient formations would be damaged if it were opened to the public. Seven years later, on March 16, 1975, the cave was declared a nature reserve and its secrets were revealed.
From the roof of the cavern hangs a forest of stalactites, the largest more than 4m long, slowly formed over millennia by the slow dripping of water through cracks in the ceiling. Rising up from the floor beneath them is a series of towering stalagmites, while some stalactites and stalagmites have joined to form pillars. The result is a strange subterranean world of bizarre formations, with organic-looking shapes that resemble coral reefs and tentacles. Other formations have been compared to a whole range of objects: elephant ears, ice cream cones, the Lion King, and the U.S. Capitol Building.
The whole effect has been made even more trippy since the installation of a modern lighting system.
According to the Internet
