SGOURADES

PANADOGRAVA CAVE

The search to the Panadograva cave took three years, but it can be said with certainty that the Panadograva cave is not a legend!

In the first part of his book (1954), Ioannis Bounias wrote that they talk in the village of Sgourades about a Panadograva cave. In the second part of his book (1958), Bounias wrote that the 'Pano-do-Grava' cave is located on the verdant hill of Ano Sgourades, near the telecommunication station. On the outside of the cave there are stones and it seems that shepherds used to live there. The Panadograva cave consists of a main room and a chasm closed by stones. The inhabitants told how they threw a cat into the chasm and that it walked later close to the Holy Trinity church in Klimatia, 2.5 kilometres as the crow flies.

The Panadograva cave has a main room, followed by a chasm which is closed with stones. On the wall above the entrance to the chasm there are few but unique decorations with stalactites.

The story about the cat is not reliable. The fact that a cat lands on its paws does not mean that it has nothing to do with a fall. In 1987, veterinarians at the Animal Medical Center in New York (USA) examined the injuries of 132 cats who had fallen from flats over a five-month period. The animals suffered chest, lung and head injuries, fractures and broken teeth. 37 percent of the cats immediately needed life-saving help. 30 percent came off with somewhat milder interventions. An equal number of cats were monitored for a few days, but did not require treatment.

In the history of the Panadograva cave, the cat did not fall into the chasm, but was thrown into it. Throwing a cat into a chasm would have caused it a shock and - most likely - a lot of broken bones. 

The temperature of a cave is 17-19 degrees Celsius. Hypothermia is the most serious threat to a speleologist / caver and an animal, especially when you are injuried! A cat with broken bones cannot walk a long distance in a cold cave, the animal will die very soon.

Literature:

Μπουνιάς Ιωάννης, Κερκυραϊκά Ιστορία - Λαογραφία, τόμος Α΄, Αθήνα 1954, σ. 65.

Μπουνιάς Ιωάννης, Κερκυραϊκά Ιστορία - Λαογραφία, τόμος B΄, Αθήνα 1958, σ. 153.

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