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The Sphinx of Avala Traditional Cache

Hidden : 5/12/2011
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

In 1928 Vladimir Zagorodnjyk, russian sculptor, created two sphinx at the front entrance stairway of hotel Avala. Despite the time, weather, visitors and wars, they still guard the entrance to the hotel complex. When I was a little kid, my parents would bring me to Avala, I wouldn't miss, for anything, to climb on those sphinx and 'ride' on them.

The cache is a small yellow container hidden behind the rock in the wall.

The Avala is a low, type of the Pannonian island mountain, though it is actually the northernmost mountain in Šumadija. Until 600,000 years ago, when the surrounding low areas were flooded by the inner Pannonian Sea, the Avala was an island, just as the neighboring mountains (Kosmaj, Fruška Gora, etc.) , thus earning its geographical classification.
Mountain is built of serpentinite, limestone and magmatic rocks, which are injected in the shape of cone (laccolith). The Avala had deposits of ores, most notably lead and mercury's ore of cinnabarite (cinnabar) but mining activities which can be traced to the pre-Antiquity times, done by Celtics (Kelti-Skordijci) ceased in the 1960s. The Avala is also a location where mineral avalite, named after the mountain, was found.

On top of Celtics’ fortress ruins, Roman legions build an observation tower. Later, at the end of the first millennium, Serbs rebuilt the fortress and called it Zrnov. In medieval times, there were three high furnaces used to process ore. In 1440 Turks, after defeat at Belgrade, spend two years building the fortress Gjuzeldze, where the ruins of Serbian fortress were. They built it as a counter-fortress to the Belgrade city fort, and renamed it ‘Havale’, which originally comes from Arabic and means ‘obstacle’, ‘shelter’. Local people called this fortress Chemeri Kule (Chemeri towers).
By the mid 18th century, the fortress was abandoned and left for decay.
Remains of the medieval Žrnov were removed in the 1934 to make a way for the Monument to the Unknown Hero. In the period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the mountain was declared a national park, in 1936

In 1924, when people from Belgrade got interested in hiking and enjoying Avala mountain nature, the mountain lodge was built. Later, the hotel Avala was build, the work of Russian architect Victor Lukomski. The hotel was often used by king Aleksandra Karadjordjevic.

In 1928 Vladimir Zagorodnjyk, russian sculptor, created two sphinx at the front entrance stairway.

In the back of the hotel there is a path to the monument of the Unknown hero, and from the hotel the magnificent Avala Tower is visible.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Abg ba gur onypbal. Tb oruvaq gur gerr naq ybbx sbe n ybbfr ebpx va gur jnyy ng fubhyqre yriry. Purpx fcbvyre cvpf

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)