Known as the Zamolxis Cave and where the monk Pahomie hid, the Polovragi Cave is located in the Căpățănii Mountains, on the banks of the Oltețu, at an altitude of 670 m and 20 m above the riverbed, on the territory of the Polovragi commune between the Horezu localities and Iron Bath.
It is a warm and humid cave (constant temperature + 9 degrees and average humidity - 90%), which "weeps" with drops from infiltrations, water rich either in calcium carbonate or in silicon dioxide, iron oxide, etc. , depending on the layers it goes through, "washes" them and brings them back, with long patience, in its own excavation.
Depending on the impurities that the water carries in the main gallery, it changes its color from downstream to upstream, on portions that have acquired, over time, names such as: Bloody Vault, White Chamber, Divine Hall.
In the consciousness of the locals, a belief is kept alive according to which the spiritual leader of the Geto-Dacians, Zamolxe, would have lived in the Polovragi Cave. Also here, the healers processed a rare plant, called povraga, polvraga, or polovraga, used by the people as a remedy against diseases.
It is possible that the name of the locality, and implicitly of the cave and the monastery, is of Dacian origin, containing in itself a cryptogram not deciphered yet, about some conception of our ancestors regarding their religious faith or the medical practices so widespread in their lives.
It also has the alternative name Pahomie Cave, because hundreds of years ago it sheltered a monk named Pahomie, who drew a scary drawing at one of the entrances, a huge skeleton with a scythe in hand, depicting Death. According to other historical sources, the monk Pahomie is none other than the great ban Barbu Craiovescu.
The 600 meters of visitable gallery (out of the more than 10 kilometers charted by speleologists from upstream to downstream) represent the great spillway, and the tourist gate is downstream, which explains the impressive dimensions at the entrance.
Text taken from the presentation panel
