Baumannshöhle
| Baumannshöhle
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 Visitor entrance to the Baumannshöhle |
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| Location: | Harz , Germany | |
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Geographic location: |
51 ° 45 '18 " N , 10 ° 50' 36" E | |
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| Cadastral number: | RÜ-01 | |
| Type: | Stalactite cave | |
| Discovery: | 1536 | |
| Show cave since: | 1649 | |
| Lighting: | electric (since 1892) | |
| Overall length: | 1950 meters | |
| Length of the show cave area: |
600 meters | |
| Average annual number of visitors: | 93,600 (2011-2015) | |
| Current visitors: | 91,108 (2015) | |
| Particularities: | Show cave since 1649 | |
| Website: | official page | |
The Baumannshöhle is next to the Hermannshöhle a show cave in Rübeland in the Harz district . The Baumannshöhle is the oldest show cave in Germany .
geology
The cavity was formed in Devon - lime of the Elbingeröder complex in conjunction with the formation of the Bode valley in the region of arbor specified disorders .
history
According to a fictitious legend , the cave was discovered around 1536 by the miner Friedrich Baumann , from which the name of the cave is said to go back. Baumann is said to have entered the cave in search of an ore deposit and got lost there after his pit light had gone out. After three days he managed to find the exit again. Although he was supposedly still able to report about the cave, he then died as a result of the hardships. This story is an unproven legend and the associated date 1536 was invented to celebrate an anniversary during the Nazi era .
Visits to the cave have been made since the 16th century. In 1649 the Dukes of Braunschweig granted the Rübeländer Valentin Wagner and his family the privilege of taking visitors through the cave. This time is considered to be the start of regular guided tours. Due to the destruction of stalactites , the Brunswick Duke Rudolf August issued an ordinance on April 10, 1668 to protect the Baumann Cave. The cave is therefore also the first legally protected natural monument in Germany. To prevent unauthorized access, access was secured in 1688 by a door, so that the stalactite decorations have been preserved to this day. One of the most famous visitors was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who visited the cave in 1777, 1783 and 1784. Other well-known visitors were the theologian Gottfried Olearius in 1656 and the scientist Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in 1690 . The oldest depiction of the interior of the cave comes from Matthäus Merian for the year 1654 . The oldest cave plan dates from 1665. The Baumann cave became, next to the Brocken , a well-known Harzer attraction and thus gained importance for Rübeland as an important economic factor. At that time, the nearby Bielshöhle was also visited.
The access to the Baumannshöhle was high on the western slope of the Bodetal. It was difficult to enter the cave. A more thorough exploration of the cave followed from the second half of the 19th century. The cave guide Streitberg found access to previously unknown parts of the cave on July 1, 1888, which are known as the New Baumannshöhle . An exact plan of the cave was drawn up in 1888 by Oberforstmeister Nehring .
When regular tours of the Hermannshöhle began on May 1st, 1890 , which was also equipped with electric light , the number of visitors to Baumannshöhle declined. Her poor condition certainly contributed to this; Sooty cave walls and lackluster stalactites testified to the use of pitch torches, numerous stalactites had been removed as souvenirs or for sale, and Bengali fires were intended to entertain visitors. Addition worth mentioning: The effect of the Baumannshöhle also extended to Nietzsche. His Basel friend Franz Overbeck's neighboring apartment was called Baumannshöhle .
In 1901, in what is now the Goethesaal of the cave, investigations into natural radioactivity were carried out by the Wolfenbüttel researchers Elster and Geitel . In 1928/1929 Stolberg carried out a partial remeasurement of the Baumannshöhle. In 1928 a new entrance to the cave was created. From the newly built entrance hall in the center of the village, visitors have since entered the cave through a 74-meter-long, steep tunnel built in 1927 . The old entrance has been closed and is only used for operational purposes. New paths have also been laid inside the cave, although not all parts of the cave are open to the public. During excavations in 1965, new Stone Age finds came to light. In the 1990s, investigations and measurements were carried out by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Karstkunde eV . Bridal couples have been able to get married in the Baumannshöhle since 2000.
monk
Column hall in the Baumannshöhle (1951)
Tree of life in the pillared hall
Formerly standing bear skeleton in the entrance area to Baumannshöhle, 1951
Room description
The Baumannshöhle consists of several interconnected cavities. Mention should be made here of the Leuchterschlucht gorge, which is shaped by one meter high stalagmites . The largest room is the Goethesaal with around 2500 m², in which concerts also take place and plays are occasionally performed during the school holidays. There are two stages and seats for up to 300 spectators in this hall. The Goethesaal is also a branch of the local registry office . Until 1928 the hall was called the dance hall . In the Goethesaal there is the artificially created Wolfgangsee , the maximum depth of which is 0.8 meters. The highest point of the cave, the Kingdom of Heaven , is 440 m above sea level. NN . The deepest point is the 61 meters lower water passage at 379 m above sea level. NN . In a cave known as the Hamburg coat of arms there is a rock formation that reminded Goethe of the Hamburg coat of arms . Since this smaller cave was originally called the Goethesaal , it had to be given a new name after the dance hall was renamed. In the Hamburg coat of arms there is also an artificially modified stalagmite about one meter high, the monk . From the Hamburg coat of arms you can get to the parts of the new Baumannshöhle discovered in 1888, such as the Schildkrötenschlucht gorge . The name comes from a sinter and fracture formation that is reminiscent of a turtle . The stairs used for group photos are located above the gorge.
Other rooms are the Hanging Mountains and the Palm Grotto , which got its name from a sinter formation reminiscent of a palm tree . The columned hall is considered a particularly beautiful room , which is characterized by a multitude of stalactites , stalagmites, sintered flags and small sintered tubes , so-called macaroni. The stalagmite known as the tree of life is also located in this hall .
The cave became famous, among other things, because of the numerous bone finds of the cave bear, which is now extinct . They were gathered in an area called the Large Bone Field. Here is a reconstructed cave bear skeleton.
Bats hibernate in the Baumannshöhle . The occurrence of so-called lamp flora is problematic . The growth of mosses and other plants occurs in the vicinity of artificial light sources and can change the appearance of the cave or damage the stones. The phenomenon is counteracted with lighting concepts and cleaning work in winter.
See also
literature
- Horst Scheffler, Hartmut Knappe: corals, lime and cave darkness . The Harz - a landscape introduces itself, issue 15/16, Harzmuseum Wernigerode, 1986
- Uwe Fricke, Friedhart Knolle : Die Rübeländer stalactite caves , Studio Volker Schadach Goslar, 1999, ISBN 3-928728-42-3
- Christian Friedrich Schroeder : Natural history and description of the Baumans cave and especially the Biel cave as well as the area of the Lower Harz, in which both are documented , Hildesheim 1789 ( digitized version )
- The early travel pictures, Hans Christian Andersen, Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1984, p 199 gives the legend of the origin of the cave.
- Thomas Weber : Rübeland. In: Joachim Herrmann (Hrsg.): Archeology in the German Democratic Republic. Monuments and finds. Volume 2. Urania Verlag, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-8062-0531-0 , pp. 363-3365.
Web links
- Official website
- The Baumann's Cave at Rübeland - Stephan Kempe (PDF file; 1.02 MB)
Individual evidence
- ^ Béatrice Austria: Geological hike around Rübeland . In: Friedhart Knolle , Béatrice Oesterreich, Rainer Schulz and Volker Wrede: The Harz - Geological Excursions. , Perthes, Gotha 1997, ISBN 3-623-00659-9 , p. 164f.
- ↑ Horst Scheffler, Hartmut Knappe: Coral, lime and dark cave . The Harz - a landscape introduces itself, issue 15/16, Harzmuseum Wernigerode, 1986, p. 50.