Bismarck grotto near Rinnenbrunn
| Bismarck grotto near Rinnenbrunn
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 Bismarck grotto north entrance |
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| Location: | Rinnenbrunn, Franconian Alb , Germany | |
| Height : | 510 m above sea level NN | |
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Geographic location: |
49 ° 35 '56.2 " N , 11 ° 34' 35.8" E | |
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| Cadastral number: | A 25 | |
| Geology: | dolomite | |
| Type: | Passage cave | |
| Discovery: | 1890 | |
| Show cave since: | No | |
| Lighting: | No | |
| Overall length: | 1240 meters | |
| Level difference: | 52 meters | |
| Particularities: | Closed October 1st - April | |
The Bismarck Grotto is a natural karst cave near Rinnenbrunn . It is located in the municipal district of Upper Palatinate municipality Hirschbach in Amberg-Sulzbach in Bavaria .
description
The Bismarck Grotto is a through cave on the Steinberg near the former forester's house Rinnenbrunn. It is also called "Bismarckschacht" (the north entrance was called Bismarckschacht until the connection between today's south and north entrance). The total length of the passage of the cave is about 1200 meters with a total depth of about 52 meters (measured from the south shaft). It is one of the largest caves in Franconian Switzerland .
The cave is a strongly fissured, widely branched system of crevices in the dolomite formed on several floors with hall-like and chamber-like expansions. There are two manholes. The southern entrance is also called the "corkscrew" because of its spiral shape. Scour , remnants of caustic lye and crumbling dominate the cave . The main fracture direction is NNW-SSE.
One finds stalactites and sinter formations only in the upper parts of the cave .
The origins of the cave and the ore deposits are not fully understood.
In the Franconian Alb cave cadastre (HFA), the Bismarck grotto is listed with the cadastral number A 25.
history
The cave was discovered by forest staff in 1890 and some of it was made accessible with climbing systems. The name was given in 1891 by the forester Reichel. The cave was measured for the first time in 1903 by Adalbert Neischl and in 1958 by the Sulzbach-Rosenberg Speläoclub . In 1910 the connection between the north and south entrances and in 1958 another shaft, the 15 meter deep Steinberg shaft A 25a, was discovered. Although this has no direct connection to the Bismarck Grotto, it can be assigned to the system morphologically . During excavations in 1966, prehistoric artifacts were found. These confirm the assumption that the north shaft was also used as a burial site or sacrificial site. In 1972 the ore hall with abundant sinter deposits was discovered.
The Bismarck Grotto came into the public eye in 1910 after the rescue of two lost Nuremberg cave explorers.
A search in 1958 for the Göring treasure , which was suspected to be there, was unsuccessful.
Access
The Bismarck Grotto is freely accessible. Due to the protection of the caves and the bats that hibernate there , it is closed from October to April. Hundreds of years of driving into the cave have left their mark and significantly damaged it. Because of the ramifications and some challenging climbing areas, the cave should only be visited if accompanied by a cave expert and with appropriate equipment. As a rule, the cave is accessed from the south shaft. If you have descended about 20 meters, you come to a sediment hall. A sloping tube, narrow passages and gaps lead to the “Gothic passages”, then to the largest room of the cave near the north entrance. The room is about 45 meters long, 10 meters wide and up to 15 meters high. From there you can explore other parts of the cave, but some of them are very narrow.
There is a parking lot nearby at the former Rinnenbrunn forester's lodge, which can be reached via gravel access roads from Achtel and Finstermühle . The forester's house was a popular excursion destination and was managed until the middle of the 20th century.
literature
- Stephan Lang: Caves in Franconia. A hiking guide into the underworld of Franconian Switzerland . Revised and exp. Edition. Hans Carl Verlag, Nuremberg 2006, ISBN 3-418-00385-0 .
