Two Kilometres of Three

June 5, 2022

Timber-propped passage in the Ravne tunnels in Bosnia, a lamp glowing at the far end — Dug out by shovel and wheelbarrow, paid for by the ten-euro tours.

Day nineteen, Bosnia. “We've cleared two kilometres of three,” says Esmar Alimanovic, who is taking us through the tunnels at Ravne.

The authorities won't allow further digging on the Pyramid of the Sun, so in 2006 Dr Osmanagić went looking for another way in. “There are around seventy thousand pyramids in the world,” Esmar says. “Most of them have tunnels underneath.” They found an entrance at Ravne and started clearing it out with shovels and wheelbarrows, which is as slow as it sounds. The ten euros for the tour pays for the digging.

“Five thousand years ago the tunnels were sealed. By whom, we don't know.”

He talks about the air down here, which he says is full of negative ions and good for you. I have been in mine workings and cave systems in Germany and in Italy, and the air in them can sit in your chest like old cloth. Down here my lungs go deeper without being asked. Make of that what you like; I only report it.

Dry stone walls. Boulders. Wooden beams. Wall surfaces that don't look like anything I know.

Some of the visitors have come to meditate. Nobody is embarrassed about it, which is its own kind of achievement.

Visitors under trees in the park at the Ravne tunnels near Visoko, a “Magic Forest – Magična Šuma” banner above — Before the entrance you wait in the shade, under a banner promising a magic forest.

Two large egg-shaped ceramic blocks in the Ravne tunnel, framed information boards on the wooden wall behind — A sign on the wall asks visitors not to linger here.

“Drywall” sign on a wooden post in the Ravne tunnels, a low opening in the rubble beside it — The tunnels were sealed five thousand years ago, and nobody knows by whom.

Stacked boulders forming a dry wall in the Ravne tunnel, an information board on a wooden beam to the right — Dry walls, boulders, wooden beams, in the order the tour shows them.

Lit passage in the Ravne tunnels with wooden props, a large boulder and lamps on the posts — Down here my lungs go deeper without being asked, and I am only reporting.

Underground pool of greenish shimmering water in a rock niche of the Ravne tunnels — Through a gap in the rock, a pool that glows green once light hits it.

Red and blue hard hats on visitors in the dark Ravne tunnel, a blurred helmet and hair in the foreground — Some visitors have come to meditate, and none of them is embarrassed about it.

Timber-lined passage in the Ravne tunnels with boards reading “New Tunnel Sections” and “Bosnian Pyramid Water” — Two of three kilometres are clear, dug out with shovel and wheelbarrow.

Wheelbarrow in a propped side passage of the Ravne tunnels, rubble and wooden posts on the left — Digging goes as slowly as it sounds, paid for by the ten-euro tour.

Frank grinning and pointing at a purple “Positive Energy Rd.” sign at the Ravne tunnels site — Make of it what you will, the sign at least comes in three languages.

At the Ravne tunnel entrance, Frank in a blue hard hat beside the guide Esmar Alimanovic, helmets on shelves — Hard hat on and in we go, ten euros for the tour.

Park at the Ravne tunnels with a stone spiral, paths, a stage with flags and visitors in the shade of trees — Up in the park, stones are laid out in a spiral and visitors rest on the grass.