Lakatnishki rocks

Overview

Lakatnishki rocks are located on the left slope of the Iskar gorge in the Balkan Mountains. They are located in the municipality of Svoge, on the land of the village of Milanovo, between the valleys of the rivers Proboynitsa and Opletnenska. The closest to the rocks is Lakatnik station.
In the more distant past the rocks were called Osikovski, after the village of Osikovo, today Milanovo. After the construction of the railway line through the Iskar gorge, the Lakatnik station appeared (today the village of Lakatnik Station - different from the village of Lakatnik, which is higher on the slopes of the right bank opposite the rocks) and people began to connect the rocks with the nearby station. The origin of the name Lakatnik is not clear, there are different assumptions: according to some it comes from the bend that makes the river Iskar - in the form of a folded elbow, according to others from the verb "lakatushi", referring to the rural valley and river, and several local places "Laki", according to others, comes from the Latin word "lactation", i.e. something like "Mlekarevo" (it is assumed that there were many cattle and milk in Roman times).
Lakatnishki rocks are made of red sandstones and limestones, and the layers of the rocks are almost vertical. The rocks in places reach over 250 meters above the waters of the river Iskar. As a result of the influence of the external relief-forming forces on the Lakatnishki rocks, many rock forms have been formed - pyramids, towers, ridges and others.

Characteristic of the rocks is the well-developed karst. There are a large number of karst caves in Lakatnishki rocks. Among them are the Temnata dupka, Ryazhishka Cave, Zidanka, Svinska dupka and others.