Geraer cave
The Geraer Höhler are a system of artificially created cavities under almost all houses in the old town of Gera , which were previously used to store beer . There are also underground beer storage tunnels in other cities in Central Germany (e.g. Altenburg , Zeitz , Glauchau , Crimmitschau and Eilenburg ) , but only those in Gera were referred to as “caves”.
Historical bases
Already in the oldest surviving city law of Gera from 1487, the brewing rights were precisely regulated - everyone who owned a house in Gera was entitled to brewing and serving rights. Literally it means: Item no one magk brewing nor give, he is then a burger and has his own house. Until the 16th century, however, wine-growing was primarily practiced in the Gera area , which is still remembered by the vineyard near Untermhaus . However, for various reasons - including climate changes - wine gave way to hops from around 1600. As a result, the demands on brewers grew. The small cellars under the narrow houses in the old town were neither large nor cool enough to optimally store the beer. That is why they built "cellars under the cellars" - so-called caves .
Up to 1656 brewing took place in 99 houses, in 1853 221 houses had brewing and serving rights. 230 caves were created between the 16th and 19th centuries.
The construction of the caves
The caves were built professionally by miners, which is partly due to the changed economic conditions of that time. The small copper and silver deposits in the Gera area, where mining had been going on since the Middle Ages , were as good as exploited in the 17th century. The construction of the caves offered the miners a new job.
Caves with a total length of nine kilometers were created all over Gera. Usually they are five to eight, sometimes up to ten meters below the ground. Sometimes there are two soles on top of each other.
use
Before industrialization , the caves were indispensable for the Gera brewing industry. After the great city fire of 1780 , a fundamental redesign of the city was abandoned, but the old division of streets and properties was essentially retained - among other things for the reason that the filling of caves would have been economically unjustifiable.
In the Second World War , the caves were given a new meaning as an air raid shelter. For this purpose, many caves - all of which had previously only been accessible from the house - were connected by new tunnels. In the course of the National Socialist war planning, the cave had already started to be tested and optimized for their suitability as an air raid shelter in 1935.
After a basic survey of the cave system had been carried out by the Ronneburg mountain rescue service between 1976 and 1978, ten caves with a total length of 250 meters were expanded into a museum between 1986 and 1989. Today cave No. 188 is attached to them as a branch of the Natural History Museum with an exhibition on the mineral world of East Thuringia.
Another cave, which is located under the Gera town hall , is also open to the public - this is where the fat bargain cabaret has been housed since 1973 .
Every year in October there is a cave festival in Gera , on the occasion of which the beer bar is presented to the “best” inn .
literature
- Siegfried Mues / Klaus Brodale: City guide Gera . Gondrom Verlag, Bindlach 1995, ISBN 3811208217
- G. Meier: "Cultural-historical considerations on the origin of the Geraer Höhler". In: Publications of the museums of the city of Gera, issue 2/1985, GDR. (On the corridors and cellars Geraer Höhler under Gera)
- A. Stengel: "Tief- und Bergkelleranlagen (Höhler) in East Thuringia and West Saxony", dissertation, 1940.
Web links
- Association for the preservation of the Gera caves
- "Historical caves" on the official website of the city of Gera
Individual evidence
- ↑ The cave system - an attraction of the city of Gera. Association for the Preservation of Geraer Höhler eV, accessed on September 10, 2012 .
- ↑ a b c Oda Tietz: Country women recipes from Thuringia , 2003, Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co., Stuttgart, ISBN 3-8001-4220-1