Kittelsthaler stalactite cave
| Kittelsthaler stalactite cave
|
||
|---|---|---|
 Pyramid in the Great Grotto |
||
| Location: | Thuringian Forest , Germany | |
|
Geographic location: |
50 ° 55 '23.3 " N , 10 ° 23' 33.7" E | |
|
||
| Cadastral number: | 5128/01 | |
| Type: | Stalactite cave | |
| Discovery: | 1888 | |
| Show cave since: | 1896 | |
| Lighting: | electric | |
| Overall length: | 726 m | |
| Level difference: | 48.3 m | |
| Length of the show cave area: |
158 m | |
| Average annual number of visitors: | 4,954 (2008-2012) | |
| Current visitors: | 4,795 (2012) | |
The Kittelsthaler stalactite cave is a cave in the Thuringian Forest . It is located in the Kittelsthal district of the city of Ruhla in the Wartburg district . The cave is accessible through a former mine. The total length is 726 meters; on guided tours, it is walked over a length of 158 meters. You reach the cave 48 meters below via 228 steps. The first natural cavities were discovered in 1888. In 1894 it was expanded into a show cave and opened in 1896. There were no tours of the cave between 1968 and 1992.
Geographical location
The cave is located in the Ruhla district of Kittelsthal in Wolfsberg , a small mountain ( 348 m above sea level ) on the northeastern roof of the northwestern Thuringian Forest and in the northwestern part of the Thuringian Forest Nature Park . The center of Kittelsthal is southwest of the Wolfsberg, and the Hörsel tributary Erbstrom flows past to the east.
history
Natural caves
The area around Thal is particularly rich in natural caves and crevices. The knight's cave , the hollow stone , the oven hole and a few others were already visited by people in the Middle Ages; the legends about Venediger are particularly numerous in the region.
Mining
Mining has been practiced in the Kittelsthal area since the late Middle Ages, with varying degrees of success; This is still evidenced by numerous pings and ravines in the forest area of Spitzigen Stein , at the forest village of Zange in the direction of Mosbach and Ruhla . There are also so-called peasant shafts in the open area on the southern outskirts . Copper ore was initially mined here. Gypsum mining was of particular importance near Kittelsthal, because in the 18th century gypsum was a valuable building material; Kittelsthaler plaster was delivered to Weimar .
The copper ore deposits have been mined since the 19th century; the local miners were now mainly looking for barite (barite) and fluorite (fluorspar). Up until the beginning of the 20th century, there were several barite pits on Wolfsberg with shafts running vertically downwards. This second phase of the local mining history, however, was of little importance for Kittelsthal and, apart from the barite mining, only had little success. In 1924 mining in Wolfsberg came to a standstill for economic reasons.
Discovery and exploration of the stalactite cave
In 1888, natural cavities in the Wolfsberg I pit were first mentioned. The mining official Henninger from Elgersburg depicted the Great Grotto in a Saiger crack . During excavations, miners repeatedly discovered cave parts . However, these were mostly only small in size, covered with sediments and in a condition that was not worthy of conservation. The cavities were therefore partially filled with overburden in most of the mining areas. In the beginning, this also happened in part with the cave in Kittelsthal. After the mine owners had recognized their show value, the backfilling was stopped. In 1894 further cavities were discovered in Wolfsberg, so it was decided to expand the cave as a show cave.
Show cave
The operator of the mining facility, Steiger Hess from Kittelsthal, played a large part in the development and expansion of the cave from 1894 to 1896 . An inclined tunnel with stairs was created, today's access to the cave, which connects the excavation cavities of shafts 1 and 2 with each other. In 1895 the first guided tours took place in the cave, which was ceremoniously opened in 1896 with a Sermon on the Mount. Steiger Hess was the first cave guide. The former material building and the Chew mining plant were as a restaurant to cave transformed. The cave entrance was built over and a ticket booth with a lounge and souvenir shop was built. In the first years of the show cave operation, the cave was lit with gas . At the beginning of the 20th century, speleologists were looking for new cavities. In 1918, according to other sources as early as 1913/1914, electrical lighting with colored lamps was installed in sections and the cave was provided with green plants and garden gnomes. The lighting was redesigned several times until 1936. The name of the cave was different until the Second World War. In the publications of the Thuringian Cave Association it appeared as Thaler stalactite cave or stalactite cave near Thal . Since the end of the war it has been exclusively called the Kittelsthal stalactite cave . The entire show cave and parts of the rest of the cave area are located in the Kittelsthal corridor. In the 1960s, the Eisenach district council invested 18,000 marks in securing work in the access tunnel and in the Great Grotto by the company Quent from Farnroda . In 1954 the management company, which had been discontinued in 1945, was resumed. A cave guide and hourly sales force were employed. The Raimund family sold the cave to the Kittelsthal community in 1966. In the last full year of operation, around 4,000 people visited the cave, half of whom were school children. The fee for the guided tours from the beginning of June to the end of September was 0.80 marks for adults and 0.50 marks for children. In the spring of 1968 there was a small ridge break . The cave was then closed for safety reasons.
Resting phase
The fallen ridge part was in a clay pocket, which may have come off due to excessive moisture. A crooked steel girder in the Great Grotto , which had also been listed as a reason for closure, had already been deformed when it was brought into the cave. Since the risks were difficult to assess and because of the rather low number of visitors, there was no great interest in continuing the show cave operations. In addition, the installation systems in the cave were in a relatively poor condition. Since nobody declared themselves responsible for the protection of the cave, there was considerable destruction, for example in the area of the Three Equals , in the Wolfsschlucht and in the Great Grotto . Some of the stalactites were broken off and stolen. In the Great Grotto , the top of the pyramid was cut off. The thief was convicted; the tip could be secured and put back on. Water from the ceiling has been diverted so that it drips onto the attached tip. This should enable it to grow back over time. The cave entrance was closed with a massive door to prevent further destruction. From then on, the cave was only accessible to organized cave explorers. A long period of research began in the cave. In 1968, the Suhl grotto was discovered as part of the investigations because of the endangerment of the cave . This could be reached through a countersinking joint several meters wide, but only 0.5 meters high. The cave researchers E. Roscher and V. Nemitz discovered the mud grotto on October 3rd, 1971 . Subsequently, the largest room, the Hall of the Titans , with an area of 50 by 12 and an average height of 10 meters , and other rooms in its vicinity, including the clay dome , were discovered. The Kittelsthal cave research group founded in December 1975 continued the research in the cave. The last major discovery was in 1981 the Silbermann grotto with the crystal lake, the only small body of water in the cave.
Securing work
Over time, the wooden stairs in the entrance tunnel and the electrical installation fell into disrepair. In order to counteract further deterioration of the cave, from 1980 the Ilfeld mountain security carried out safety measures in the cave and the mining parts above after a mining section collapsed right next to the cave restaurant. Some of the old shafts have been cleared; the accessible parts of the old tunnels and mining fields were filled. Concrete seals were installed in the ridge area of the Great Grotto and the access tunnel . A large rock slab that was secured with anchors came loose at a chasm in shaft I. In the vicinity of the cave, other old mining facilities were filled in or their entrance areas secured. The securing work was completed in 1990.
reopening
After ten years of safety work and German reunification, the community intended to reopen the show cave as its greatest attraction. The restoration of the cave began on May 2, 1991 with ABM forces and little financial means. A new concrete staircase was poured in the access tunnel, the entrance and exit were secured with railings and grit was applied to the cave passages . The old entrance house and the cave explorers' accommodation were demolished and the entrance area partially leveled. A bungalow built by the mountain security team now serves as accommodation for the cave guides and as a ticket booth. The dirt that had fallen through open mining shafts was removed and the old cave lighting replaced. The cave walls were freed from the clay, since then the barite and sintered surfaces shine in new splendor. After the work was finished, the cave was reopened with a celebration on September 11, 1992.
geology
The cave is located in the karst complex Thal-Kittelsthal , a former Zechstein reef. This region was in a threshold position at the beginning of the Zechstein Age; Thuringia was covered by the Zechstein Sea, which only had a shallow water depth in this threshold region . In these shallow water areas, favored by the climatic conditions, many lime-scale reef inhabitants found a habitat. These reef builders died in increasingly inhospitable living conditions and were gradually covered by sediments from the higher Zechstein. The Thuringian Forest stood out due to the Saxon clod tectonics ; To a lesser extent, this also affected areas of the foreland such as the Kittelsthal region, parts of which were later removed. This provided favorable conditions for karstification . Water sank over fissures and ponors in the reef complex and the stalactite cave began to form. In larger cavities, stalactites such as stalactites , stalagmites and stalagnates in various sizes and shapes formed due to the dissolution of the lime by carbon dioxide . In the cave there are also occasional eccentrics , regardless of gravity, protrusions that are a few centimeters long and curved sideways or upwards.
Guide way
A 90-meter-long inclined tunnel leads through parts of the old mine through which the stalactite cave was discovered. There are 87 steps down to a small platform. Above this is an 18 meter high shaft that led to the outside. For safety reasons, the mountain security provided it with a concrete seal. The barite obtained was probably conveyed into the mine building via this shaft with a reel . The narrowest part of the old mining complex follows further down after about 20 meters. Here the barite dike is only 0.30 meters thick, with the tunnel being almost as high as a man. Since dismantling was not worthwhile in this area, the passage was only created when the show cave was opened up. Further down, large, bright white barite surfaces can be seen on the walls, especially on the right-hand joint. These excavation cavities belong to shaft II of the pit. There are numerous black limestone fragments in the barite.
After another 40 meters through very narrow corridors, the first natural cavity, the Great Grotto , is reached at a depth of 40 meters . There the 80-meter-thick barite duct, which has been dismantled far beyond the cavity, forms the northern boundary of the space. The grotto is about 10 by 12 meters and 5 meters high. Sections of intensely corroded limestone are located above an artificially created lake to the right of the entrance to the Great Grotto. The pyramid in the western part of the cavity is one of the most beautiful stalactites in the cave. It reaches a height of about 3.5 meters. In the southern part of the Great Grotto there is a walled concrete pillar and a steel girder for security. A wooden planking and a concrete seal over the grotto should protect against ingress of material from Shaft III, the main funding body of the old mining facility.
From the Great Grotto it goes down a few steps to the Drei Gleichen area . Only stumps of the stalactite stalactites remain, as they fell victim to vandalism before the cave was closed. On display are massive, coarsely crystalline sintered surfaces and several small, hidden in wall niches Excentriques . These grow apparently without any regularity, even against gravity, in all directions and are often strangely curved. Chemically they are identical to the stalactites. Further steps lead to the cathedral grotto , an elongated cavity, in the ridge area of which the barite passage is visible again, which was left briefly. In addition to barite, there are also yellowish to greenish fluorite crystals a maximum of one centimeter thick . The fluorite dissolves much faster than the barite, which is why sometimes only the negatives of the crystals are present. In the back of the Domgrotte is the Gerber chamber with numerous forms of corrosion on the walls, which are due to the chemical solution of the limestone through the cave waters. The further continuation of the cave in this area is covered with clay. There, 48 meters below the surface of the earth, the lowest point of the show cave is reached.
On the way back, it goes into the Wolfsschlucht , the only known cavity in the cave north of the Baryt passage. The floor is covered by several eruption blocks that close any continuation of the cave. In addition to sintering on the cavity walls, there are dark brown limestones, thin strips and individual crystals made of barite. This is due to the different solubility of calcite and barite. The walls are also covered with millimeter-thick, partly water-clear calcite turf. From there it goes back to the cave entrance via the entrance path.
New cave parts
In the southern part of the Great Grotto , a passage leads to the Titan Hall, which was discovered in 1971 and which is not visited during guided tours. It is partially covered with huge fall blocks. To the west is an approximately 18 by 32 meter large and approximately 10 meter high rock block that has detached from the ceiling. Its mass is estimated at around 13,500 tons. The hall of the titans , together with the subsidence joint created by the lowering of the block, has an area of around 1,600 square meters. The rock block is still in slight movement as there are numerous fresh cracks in the sintered surfaces and broken stalagnates between the block and the ceiling. There are other cavities around the great hall. The amount and beauty of the stalactites in these parts of the cave sometimes surpass those accessible on guided tours. The fact that these stalactites are hardly destroyed is due to the fact that these cave parts are only entered by very few people. The largest stalactite in this area is the so-called carrot , a stalactite with a length of 2.5 meters. The largest sinter curtain is about 4 meters long. Due to financial bottlenecks, it is currently not possible to develop these parts of the cave, as, among other things, a tunnel would have to be blasted through the rock and extensive safety measures would be necessary.
fauna and Flora
Wildlife
The world of cave animals was explored in 2001 by Ronald Bellstedt and Stefan Zaenker. Numerous records of worms , spiders , insects (including beetles , two-winged birds and butterflies ) as well as other arthropods were found , which suggest a great diversity of species.
Spiders are preferred in the entrance and transition area, for example the troglophilic species Lepthyphantes pallidus from the family of canopy spiders and Nesticus cellulanus , a cave spider . Animals living permanently in the cave have adapted to the conditions there. They are blind and pigmentless like the cave wood louse ( Proasellus cavaticus ) or the cave shrimp ( Niphargus ). There are also eyeless springtails (Collembola) in the cave .
Among the two-winged species (Diptera), a species of sciarid gnat that was only found there should be emphasized, which was detected by Frank Menzel in 1990. In summer the widgeon Limonia nubeculosa occurs, mosquito species from the families of the fungus gnats (Mycetophilidae), butterfly gnats (Psychodidae), sciarid gnats (Sciaridae) and winter gnats (Trichoceridae) are also found. Species from the families of the dung flies (Sphaeroceridae) and caddis flies (Trichoptera) were found in the flies . Butterfly species include the cave moth ( Triphosa dubitata ) and the ragged owl ( Scoliopteryx libatrix ).
In the cave several wintering bat species such as the greater mouse-eared ( Myotis myotis ) and the whiskered bat ( Myotis mystacinus ).
Lamp flora
In the Kittelsthal cave of the lamps has a pronounced, as in the glow lamp Flora designated plant community developed. Algae , mosses , mushrooms and ferns are the most common in the area of the light sources . These are mostly miserable forms that could not survive in absolute darkness without artificial lighting. The plants are not evenly distributed. It depends on which spores get into the cave with the seepage water from the earth's surface through fissures. The cave visitors also contribute to the spread of the plants. In some cave areas little or no lamp flora could develop due to the dryness.
tourism
Guided tours take place daily from the beginning of April to the end of October; Monday is the day off. The cave is not accessible without a guide. The route leads over easily accessible paths into the individual cave parts, past the stalactite formations. 228 steps lead to a depth of over 48 meters, covering a distance of 158 meters. In the cave there is a constant temperature of around eleven degrees Celsius with a humidity of over 95 percent.
In 1993, the first since it reopened, 10,242 people visited the cave. After that, the number of visitors declined and leveled off at between 4,000 and 6,000 a year. In 2012, 4,795 people visited the cave. Between the reopening of the cave and 2012, around 109,000 people had visited the cave. In the years 2008 to 2012 the average number of visitors was 4954. This puts it in the lower range of show caves in Germany.
See also
literature
- Klaus & Anita Schöllhorn, G. Malcher: The Kittelsthaler stalactite cave . Ed .: City administration Ruhla. 4th revised edition. Verlag + Druckerei Löhr, Ruhla 2006.
- Editor Ina Pustal, article by Ronald Bellstedt et al. : Thuringia Underground: An excursion to show caves, visitor mines and GeoMuseen . Ed .: Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology, Jena. Druckhaus Gera, Gera 2005, ISBN 3-9806811-4-9 .
- Geyer, Jahne, Storch: Geological sights of the Wartburg district and the independent city of Eisenach . In: District Office Wartburgkreis, Lower Nature Conservation Authority (Hrsg.): Nature conservation in the Wartburgkreis . Issue 8. Printing and publishing house Frisch, Eisenach and Bad Salzungen 1999, ISBN 3-9806811-1-4 .
- Hans Binder, Anke Lutz, Hans Martin Lutz: Show caves in Germany . Edited by Aegis Verlag, Ulm 1993 ISBN 3-87005-040-3 .
- Stephan Kempe A world full of secrets - caves. Series: HB Bildatlas special edition. Edited by HB Verlags- und Vertriebs-Gesellschaft, 1997 ISBN 3-616-06739-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Editor Ina Pustal, text Post Ronald Bellstedt et al. : Thuringia Underground: An excursion to show caves, visitor mines and GeoMuseen . Ed .: Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology, Jena. Druckhaus Gera, Gera 2005, ISBN 3-9806811-4-9 , p. 78 .
- ↑ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
- ^ Geyer, Jahne, Storch: Geological sights of the Wartburg district and the independent city of Eisenach . In: District Office Wartburgkreis, Lower Nature Conservation Authority (Hrsg.): Nature conservation in the Wartburgkreis . Booklet 8. Printing and publishing house Frisch, Eisenach and Bad Salzungen 1999, ISBN 3-9806811-1-4 , p. 72-75 .
- ^ Geyer, Jahne, Storch: Geological sights of the Wartburg district and the independent city of Eisenach . In: District Office Wartburgkreis, Lower Nature Conservation Authority (Hrsg.): Nature conservation in the Wartburgkreis . Booklet 8. Printing and publishing house Frisch, Eisenach and Bad Salzungen 1999, ISBN 3-9806811-1-4 , p. 71 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Klaus & Anita Schöllhorn, G. Malcher: The Kittelsthaler stalactite cave . Ed .: City administration Ruhla. 4th revised edition. Verlag + Druckerei Löhr, Ruhla 2006, The history of the discovery of the Kittelsthal stalactite cave, p. 13-19 .
- ↑ Klaus & Anita Schöllhorn, G. Malcher: The Kittelsthaler stalactite cave . Ed .: City administration Ruhla. 4th revised edition. Verlag + Druckerei Löhr, Ruhla 2006, The historical mining around Kittelsthal, p. 11-13 .
- ^ A b Klaus & Anita Schöllhorn, G. Malcher: The Kittelsthaler stalactite cave . Ed .: City administration Ruhla. 4th revised edition. Verlag + Druckerei Löhr, Ruhla 2006, cave research around Kittelsthal, p. 20-27 .
- ↑ Editor Ina Pustal, text Post Ronald Bellstedt et al. : Thuringia Underground: An excursion to show caves, visitor mines and GeoMuseen . Ed .: Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology, Jena. Druckhaus Gera, Gera 2005, ISBN 3-9806811-4-9 , p. 77-79 .
- ↑ a b c d Klaus & Anita Schöllhorn, G. Malcher: The Kittelsthal stalactite cave . Ed .: City administration Ruhla. 4th revised edition. Verlag + Druckerei Löhr, Ruhla 2006, The guide path in the show cave, p. 36-39 .
- ↑ Editor Ina Pustal, text Post Ronald Bellstedt et al. : Thuringia Underground: An excursion to show caves, visitor mines and GeoMuseen . Ed .: Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology, Jena. Druckhaus Gera, Gera 2005, ISBN 3-9806811-4-9 , p. 60-64 .
- ↑ Editor Ina Pustal, text Post Ronald Bellstedt et al. : Thuringia Underground: An excursion to show caves, visitor mines and GeoMuseen . Ed .: Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology, Jena. Druckhaus Gera, Gera 2005, ISBN 3-9806811-4-9 , p. 64-65 .
