Chavdarska ( Lazhenska ) cave "Mandrata" is located approximately 3.5 km from the villages Chavdartsi and Alexandrovo , Lovech region in the northwestern periphery of the tourist region Devetashko plateau. Midway between the two villages are marked with a sign exit south of the road between the villages. Path to the cave is not bad asphalt, although it is narrow and overgrown .
The first information about the cave is 1640 It is the first report of the Bulgarian Archbishop Petar Bogdan the Roman Congregation , where among others, the date September 24 reads.
"I visited the village of Gorno lie very close to the river Osam, under a mountain ... In this village there is a cave in the mountains, natural made so long and wide that would come many thousands of people. Inside there is a spring with water as cold as ice and form flow as crystal ... "
The length of the cave is about 450 meters of its entrance is incorrect semicircular cross section , width 12 and height 7.5 m Grand entrance hall was only about 81x35x15m . At the bottom are three separate galleries - left a river with a length of 165 meters (called input and water ) right are dry. Sinter formations almost none. Cave karst precipitation drains water from the higher parts of the plateau . The fauna is represented by 13 species of invertebrates, which is troglobionts spider Porrhomma profundum.
The first known study of the cave is made of N.Radev on 18 September 1926 In the same 1929 and V. Mihov conducted archaeological excavations and artifacts dating from the Chalcolithic and Iron Age. Detailed study mapped and described by Mr. P. Petrov in 1931 and later by national expeditions in 1965-78 In this period the cave was converted initially into dairy, where bears one of the synonymous names, but later - in storage. In more recent times, it is used for mushroom plantation .
The cave is entered freely. The whole bottom of the main large room horizontally and cemented - can be entered directly with car beam for better lighting and visibility.
- Caves