Cave tower cave
| Cave tower cave
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 The 2 × 3 m main entrance to the cave tower cave |
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| Location: | Lower Austria , Austria | |
| Height : | 355 m above sea level A. | |
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Geographic location: |
47 ° 52 '3.5 " N , 16 ° 10' 27.5" E | |
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| Cadastral number: | 1869/7 | |
| Geology: | Baden Leithakalk | |
| Overall length: | 180 m | |
| Level difference: | 28 m | |
The Höhlturmhöhle (also Höllturmhöhle called cadastral number 1869/7 ) is a cave in Wöllersdorf in southern Lower Austria . With a length of 180 m and a difference in altitude of 28 m (+12 m, −16 m), it belongs together with the Hohlur and the Steinklopferhöhle to the largest caves in the Mandling - Waxeneck area .
location
The cave tower cave is located in the Gutenstein Alps on the edge of the Vienna basin at the entrance of the Piestingtal on the southern slope of the mountain Auf dem Hart at 355 m above sea level. Due to its proximity to the village of Wöllersdorf, it is one of the few caves that can be reached quickly and easily. From the church in Wöllersdorf you go up the alley called "Schafschere" until the "Höhlturmweg" branches off to the right, which leads steeply uphill past the last houses in the village to the forecourt of the cave with the so-called cave tower. From the forecourt you have a little view over Wöllersdorf.
Cave tower
history
The cave tower (in old descriptions also Höllenthurm) was built in the second half of the 15th century. He was included in fortifications, since the cave served as a refuge for the population in times of war and emergency. The connecting passage between today's cave entrance and the cave tower was probably destroyed in the 1840s in the course of quarrying work. This is how today's entrances were created. The cave itself was also changed. Above all, it should have been more extensive. The cave tower was renovated in 1994 and has had its current appearance ever since.
The cave tower today
The cave tower is the remains of a former fortification. It can be entered through two opposite entrances. A spiral wooden staircase leads to the top floor of the tower, from which you have a beautiful panoramic view of Wöllersdorf. At the bottom of the tower there is a barred shaft 2.5 m deep. Although it no longer has any connection with the cave tower cave today, there may have been a connecting passage in earlier times. According to ancient legends, the cave tower is said to have been built above or next to the cave entrance.
The cave tower is a listed building .
Cave description
The cave is divided into the western, upper, spacious part and the eastern, lower, narrow part. The total length of the aisle used to be 98 m, after a new survey on April 11 and May 16, 2010 by H. and W. Hartmann, A. Xaver and Ch. Schwabl, this was increased to 180 m (taking into account narrow side aisles). The cave is located in Leithakalk near the Alpine rim fault ( Leobersdorfer Bruch ).
Western part
The western part is 98 m long and has a height difference of 14 m (+12 m, −2 m). Two entrances (a, b) lead into a large room, with a walk around two pillars on the back wall. The furthest point of this cave is 30 m from the entrance. The room height is mostly 3 m. The (partly sloping) floor is continuously covered with sand. It's very dusty in the cave. Holes chiseled out of former ceiling beams can be seen on the walls just below the ceiling. Due to tectonic movements, these holes were shifted towards each other in such a way that no beams would fit into them today.
Eastern part
The eastern part is 82 m long and has a height difference of −15 m. Originally both parts of the cave were connected to each other. About 5 m east of the main entrance (a) at the foot of a rock wall in the bushes is the shaft-like entrance (c) into the eastern part of the cave, which was exposed again in 1956. This is closed with a semicircular grid and therefore not accessible. The shaft is 3 m deep. At the bottom of the shaft there is an increasingly narrow, descending silt , which is only a few centimeters wide at the narrowest point. Once you have overcome this obstacle, you get to the 10 × 8 × 2.5 m large dance hall, with round arches chiseled out of the ceiling. Narrow, sometimes labyrinthine side stretches branch off from here; the longest, leading to the east, is 12 m long. Another entrance (d) was exposed in 1974 from a side street to the south of the dance hall, but it has been filled in again. Excavations in the cave, especially in the dance hall, yielded finds mainly in the form of rich ceramic material (15th - 20th centuries). A pottery shard from the 12th century is the oldest find.
Cave sagas
There are reports of meetings in the times of Lutheranism, a find of stone coffins and parts of armor and that there is a connecting passage to the Starhemberg castle ruins . Knight Traiskirchner is said to have hidden a treasure in the cave. It is also said that a poor beggar knight lived in the cave and gave shelter and protection to the residents of the area in times of war, and that the cave was a dwelling for forest women. You should also hear the rush of water in the cave.
“As romantic as climbing around in the wide vaults was, with the dim lighting from the red torches and the urge to discover something even stranger, it was easier for me to breathe when I stood in the open air again. ... The legend says that the tower was previously preserved by forest women who were driven away by the clapping of the shepherds with their whips. Others claim that the underground passage once led through the forest to Starhemberg and back to Piesting for an hour . Be that as it may, and although we did not find much of what we were told earlier here, the cave remains extremely strange and worth a closer examination. "
swell
- Helga Hartmann, Wilhelm Hartmann: The caves of Lower Austria, Volume 2: Türnitz Alps and foreland, northern Gutenstein Alps, Vienna Woods, Manhartsberg, Weinviertel . Published by the Regional Association for Speleology in Vienna and Lower Austria, Vienna 1982, pp. 185–188.
- Helga Hartmann, Wilhelm Hartmann: The Caves of Lower Austria, Volume 5 . Published by the Regional Association for Speleology in Vienna and Lower Austria, Vienna 2000, pp. 376–378.
- Josef von Scheiger : Excursion to some surroundings of Neustadt and some points on the way to the Schneeberg . Archives for History, Statistics, Literature and Art, 1826.
- Franz Xaver Schweickhardt : Representation of the Archduchy of Austria under the Ens . 1833.
