Geological Collection

It is divided into three parts.

The Sinter Collection includes a specific and very widespread group of minerals in the nature. Their origin is bounded to the processes of karstification of carbonate rocks. Secondary cave filling originates by precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) from supersaturated water solutions in the cave surroundings while the main building mineral is calcite, less aragonite. In caves, a final form of sinter filling has various characters.

The Mineralogical Collection originated simultaneously with the Museum establishment, and it has been already a part of the Liptov Collection from 1904 based on the initiative of J. Volko – Starohorský, a co-founder of the Museum. From initial several hundred items, the mineral collection was enlarged on several thousand ones by numerous donations, terrain research, and purchases. The collection includes more than 300 species and varieties of minerals in various morphological, colour, and paragenetic development, different genesis, and from various finding sites in our country and the world. A collection of cut precious and jewellery stones, natural glasses of meteorite genesis (tektites) is one of the youngest Museum collections. The Museum owns a unique collection of calcite crystals gained from caves and karst areas of Slovakia, and from abroad.

In the Petrological Collection, there are abundantly represented all basic rock types – magmatic, sedimentary, and metamorphic ones. Besides rocks from the whole Slovakia, here they are rocks from many world countries. Although the Museum is not oriented on collecting the specific rock types, its effort is to petrologically document the all karst areas in Slovakia – rocks liable to karstification, mainly limestones and dolomites in connection on geological structure of the area. In the petrological collection, as a specifically allocated category, we can stated so-called clints that represent a typical geomorphological trait of the karst areas.

Curator: RNDr. Monika Orvošová, PhD.