Högberget Cave – Finland - Atlas Obscura

Högberget Cave

Crawling into this primordial cave may feel disconcertingly familiar. 

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Not far from Helsinki is a peculiar little pilgrimage site known to some as the “Womb of Mother Earth,” whose rock walls bear an undeniable resemblance to a place we all know intimately well, even if we can’t remember it. 

First thing’s first: You do not have a dirty mind. (Or maybe you do, but this isn’t why.) Högberet Cave wouldn’t be half so renowned were it not for the fact that it looks strikingly like a vagina. 

Adorned by mosses and lichen, the rocky womb is located in an area ripe for trekking, where intrepid explorers locate its mouth by looking for an opening in a several-story high granite cliff. Formed by untold rivulets working their way through the rock, Högberget was born during a simpler period of human history, when the biggest problem was foraging amidst a period post-Ice Age deglaciation… Actually, when viewed through the lens of today’s daunting complexities, a major one of which includes the world’s largest ice sheets melting, visitors’ almost instinctive need to crawl back into a cave almost makes a lot of sense. 

Illuminated by light filtering through cracks above, upon sticking one’s head back inside Högberet Cave, the sight requires little imagination with regards to how a simple granite cave became a site of pilgrimage for those who believe in the fertility of Earth herself. After clamoring into its snug, two-by-one-meter interior, visitors have been known to remark upon how familiar the experience felt. 

Primordial though it may be, some places can’t help but feel eternally safe.

Know Before You Go

Located in Kirkonummi, near Helsinki. There is a private ranch and no chance to park there or walkthrough. Use the little "opening" a few hundred meters before ranch entrance. There is a track uphill and at some point, you notice very small brown signs "Luola" ( cave). You need to be a bit creative with those. And it can be very wet and slippery in the area!

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