The Womb cave

Kurdzhali, Bulgaria

This Thracian megalith - The Womb Cave (“Utroba cave") is located near village of Illinica. The temple is shaped like the opening to a vagina. It leads into a 22 m deep cave. At the end of the cave, a carved altar (1.3 in height) symbolises the womb itself. At midday as the sun approaches its highest point, the sun light seeps into the cave through a special opening in the ceiling and projects a perfectly recognisable representation of a phallus onto the floor. As the sun progresses further, and the light slants across the interior of the cave, the phallus grows longer, reaching out to the womb altar. Only during some months of the year, when the sun is lowest on the horizon, the phallus becomes long enough to reach the altar and symbolically fecundate the womb. A well marked tourist route exists through Enchec village and around 300m after mountain cottage “Borovica”. The way to the cave includes around an hour of walking up. The path is steep but with three big alcoves and a shelter right under the cleft of the cliff. Local people know the place as Dangardak kaya (The echoing stone).