Alexander von Humboldt Cave
| Alexander von Humboldt Cave
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 Cave entrance |
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| Location: | Geroldsgrüner Forst , Hof district , Germany | |
| Height : | 610 m above sea level NHN | |
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Geographic location: |
50 ° 19 '26.4 " N , 11 ° 33' 9.7" E | |
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| Geology: | Lime | |
| Type: | Karst horizontal cave | |
| Show cave since: | No | |
| Lighting: | No | |
| Overall length: | 414 meters | |
| Particularities: | Locked | |
The Alexander von Humboldt Cave is the only known stalactite cave in the Franconian Forest . It is located in the community-free Geroldsgrüner Forest near the village of Geroldsgrün in the Upper Franconian district of Hof in Bavaria and is named after the naturalist and Prussian upper mountain ridge Alexander von Humboldt , who lived in Bad Steben and also examined the cave.
description
The cave is located three kilometers southwest of Geroldsgrün near Langenau and can be reached via hiking trails. It is a larger cave system, consisting of passages and rooms. The karst Horizontal cave is located in the geological boundary between a moderate Upper Devonian Flaserkalk and Kalkknollenschiefer . At the end of the cave there is a small lake with a water level that fluctuates greatly depending on the season and the weather. The total length of the corridor measured is 414 meters. It has a total area of 4500 m², a width of up to 30 meters and a height of up to 3 meters. The entrance area of the cave is closed all year round due to earlier sinter robbery . It has been designated as a particularly valuable geotope (geotope number: 475H001) and natural monument by the Bavarian State Office for the Environment . It serves as a bat quarter and is located in the medicinal spring protection area of the Max-Marien-Quelle (see also Bad Steben thermal baths ).
Signpost to the cave
Information board on one of the limestone quarries
The oldest description of the cave comes from the year 1797 by the teacher and local researcher Johann Theodor Benjamin Helfrecht . Alexander von Humboldt inspected the cave and prepared a description, but it is considered lost. The Oberbergrat Carl Wilhelm von Gümbel provided a further description in 1879.
literature
- H. Leheis: Alexander von Humboldt Cave . In Kulturwarte - Nordostoberfränkische monthly for art and culture , issue 5/1969. Hof 1969, pp. 108–110 (with map)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bavarian State Office for the Environment, Humboldthöhle 3 km SW of Geroldsgrün (accessed on March 22, 2020).