Klutert cave

Klutert cave
	The entrance to the Klutert cave
Location:	Ennepetal , Germany
Geographic ; location:	51 ° 17 '57 " N , 7 ° 21' 17" E Coordinates: 51 ° 17 '57 " N , 7 ° 21' 17" E
Cadastral number:	4610/6
Type:	Rock cave
Discovery:	1586 (first mentioned)
Show cave since:	1884
Lighting:	electric (since 1951)
Overall length:	5845 m
Level difference:	35 m
Length of the show ; cave area:	1080 m
Average annual number of visitors:	33,200 (2011-2015)
Current visitors:	28,022 (2015)
Website:	official page

The Klutert cave is located in Ennepetal south of the Ruhr area .

The Klutert Cave was created by leaching a north-sloping, approximately 12.5 m thick layer of reef limestone , which was formed in the Devonian sea around 370 million years ago. Due to its climate, it is also used as a place for asthmatics to relax . The temperature in the cave is constant at 10 ° C.

During the Second World War , the Kluterthöhle served the Ennepetal people as a bunker to protect them from air raids.

The cave is used as a spa and show cave . In addition to conventional tours, it offers adventure tours that lead the visitor through narrow corridors on an extreme tour with a torch and sturdy shoes.

Position and extent

The cave is part of the Klutert-Berg cave system. The Klutert mountain is located north of the village of Milspe - today part of the municipality of Ennepetal. Historically, the cave was often counted as Schwelm or Voerde.

The cave has a passage length of over 5845 meters. It consists of more than 300 tunnels, underground lakes and streams on an area of around 400 × 200 meters. It is hydraulically connected to other caves in the Klutert mountain, in particular the Bismarck cave (corridor length 1444 meters). Until the Salzgrabenhöhle was discovered in 1959 , the Kluterthöhle was the largest known cave in Germany. With numerous lakes and the "Klutertspring spring", the cave is rich in water.

Large parts of the cave have been severely disfigured from centuries of intensive use. So there are stalactites and other sintering only in the most inaccessible places .

Fauna and nature protection

The area of the Klutertberg with the Bismarck Cave was designated as a nature reserve Klutert Cave and Bismarck Cave by ordinance in 1937 because of its unique fauna. In 1937 150 species of animals were known to live in the cave. Several of these animal species could no longer be detected at the end of the century, despite the protection status. The cave is also designated as a protected geotope .

On July 30, 2018, the Arnsberg district government announced its plans to designate the cave as a national natural monument . The reason for this is that the cave walls are covered by reef-building organisms. On April 2, 2019, it was officially recognized as a national natural monument as the second property in North Rhine-Westphalia and fourth in Germany.

Cultural history and exploration

Visitor numbers since 1988

The cave was presumably already used as a shelter in prehistoric times, but there is first evidence in a text from 1698. Found fragments indicate that the cave was used from at least the 12th century. The cave has served as a destination for excursions since the Enlightenment . During the Second World War, the Klutert Cave served as an air raid shelter for up to 4,000 people. A children's carousel was even set up in the neighboring Bismarck Cave to shorten the waiting time during the bombing nights.

The cave has been used for lung cures since the mid-1950s.

Since 1976 the Kluterthöhle e. V. scientifically supervised. Since then, the association has discovered several hundred meters of new land in the cave, most recently in May 2011, when about 140 meters of new land were discovered through dives, which after the survey increased the passage length of the Klutert cave to over 5700 meters.

literature

Lutz Koch [ed.]: The Klutert book. Old and new about one of the most cave-rich mountains in Germany . vd Linnepe Verlagsgesellschaft, Hagen 1992, ISBN 3-89431-020-0 .
Stefan Voigt, Lutz Koch , Lothar Kruse: Caves and Karst in Ennepetal . Geological history, cultural history, history of exploration. Working group Kluterthöhle eV, Ennepetal 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-031095-9 .
Lothar Kruse: The Klutert cave . The story in brief. Ed .: Working group Kluterthöhle. 2011 ( akkh.de [accessed October 14, 2011]).

Web links

Commons : Kluterthöhle - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Nature reserve “Kluterthoehle und Bismarckhoehle” in the specialist information system of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia
www.kluterthoehle.de - Official homepage

Individual evidence

↑ Kluterhöhle. Kluterthöhle & Freizeit Verwaltungs- und Betriebs-GmbH & Co. KG, accessed on March 30, 2009 .
↑ ^a ^b The Kluterhöhle. Working group Kluterthöhle eV, April 2018, accessed on March 30, 2019 .
↑ Longest and deepest caves in Germany. ARGE Höhle & Karst Grabenstetten eV, March 2018, accessed on March 30, 2019 .
↑ Dirk Groß-Langenhoff: Kluterthöhle is to become a national natural monument . July 31, 2018 ( wdr.de [accessed July 31, 2018]).
^ Daniel Chur: Ennepetal: Kluterthöhle becomes a national natural monument. WDR, April 2, 2019, accessed April 2, 2019 .

[1] Kluterhöhle. Kluterthöhle & Freizeit Verwaltungs- und Betriebs-GmbH & Co. KG, accessed on March 30, 2009 .

[akkh-2] The Kluterhöhle. Working group Kluterthöhle eV, April 2018, accessed on March 30, 2019 .

[3] Longest and deepest caves in Germany. ARGE Höhle & Karst Grabenstetten eV, March 2018, accessed on March 30, 2019 .

[4] Dirk Groß-Langenhoff: Kluterthöhle is to become a national natural monument . July 31, 2018 ( wdr.de [accessed July 31, 2018]).

[5] Daniel Chur: Ennepetal: Kluterthöhle becomes a national natural monument. WDR, April 2, 2019, accessed April 2, 2019 .