the Bilpa Blacksmiths’

The Bilpa wall, which Valvasor called the wall of echoes, rises above the caves. In it the nature shaped several human, animal and mythological figures. Bilpa consists of four caves – the last was only discovered in 1983. The entrance, 8 wide and 6 m high, is on the wall about 30 m above the road. Immediately after the entrance is a long hall with a large flowstone and stalactite formations. The archaeologists found several objects here that testify to the settlement of the area in the distant past.

Below the 80 m high wall there lies a 6 m deep lake, with the spring of the Rinža river, which is the main river on the Kočevsko polje field and a characteristic underground stream. Under Kočevje it drains its waters into the gullets in the river bed and runs underground to a Bilpa spring 11.5 km away.

According to the legend, the place where the smithery was situated, lived a man who was a servant of the devil and an expert in crafting brooms for riding. When renovating the smithery, the owner allegedly found a pot buried in the corner, which held the instructions for making witches’ brooms. The Verderber smithery is far and wide the only active smithery.