Schlossberg caves
| Schlossberg caves
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 In the Schlossberg caves |
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| Location: | Saarland , Germany | |
| Height : | 288 m above sea level NN | |
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Geographic location: |
49 ° 19 '16 " N , 7 ° 20' 36" E | |
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| Type: | Red sandstone cave | |
| Discovery: | First mentioned in 1671 | |
| Show cave since: | 1932 | |
| Lighting: | electric (since 1935) | |
| Overall length: | 5000 meters | |
| Length of the show cave area: |
800 meters | |
| Particularities: | Largest artificial red sandstone cave in Europe | |
| Website: | https://www.homburger-schlossberghoehlen.de/ | |
The Schlossberg caves are red sandstone caves in the Schlossberg in Homburg . According to the city of Homburg, they are the largest red sandstone caves in Europe. They were created through the mining of red sandstone . The caves consist of twelve floors and extend over an area 140 meters long and 60 meters wide.
history
The Schlossberg caves are man-made, which is also indicated by the fact that red sandstone is not a rock capable of karstification. Karst-like phenomena can occur (for example due to weathering), which are called pseudokarst, but not cave formation of this size. Escape routes for the Hohenburg above may have been dug into the Schlossberg in the early Middle Ages . Later the very soft and easily crumbling layer of red sandstone was a sought-after raw material that was mined. Therefore, mining traces can often be seen in the cave. The underground mining was facilitated by the different tenacity of the layer package of alternating thick layers separated by thin, brittle, but stable layers.
Originally, the sand was used for glass production because of its high quartz content, later also as cleaning and scouring sand for cleaning purposes and as molding sand for the iron industry.
In 1671, a "Contre mine", a mine, was mentioned for the first time.
The cave labyrinth also served as a storage facility for Hohenburg Fortress . After the death of the last Count of Homburg in 1449, the castle and town fell to the Counts of Nassau-Saarbrücken . The French king Louis XIV. Was in the Reunionszeit by its military architect Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban expand into a fortress castle and town. The fortifications were razed in 1697 and 1714. In 1708 the caves in Homburger Schlossberg were first mentioned in a letter from a French pioneer officer. He described the damage to the underground passages and the resulting spoiled supplies of ammunition and food.
In 1872 the caves were filled in by order of the authorities. In June 1893, the first survey of the caves by the Royal Markscheider Spary took place. Thereupon the sand extraction was stopped and the mine closed again.
After that, the caves fell into oblivion and were only rediscovered in 1932. During the Second World War, the caves served as an air raid shelter for the Homburg population.
Bunker system
A bunker area adjoins the sandstone caves. This was laid out in secrecy in the early 1950s for the then government of Saarland under Johannes Hoffmann on the lower nine floors. In order to camouflage the construction activities, the Schlossberghotel (then called the “Sporthotel”) was built above the bunker area and is still in operation. In 1955 Hoffmann resigned, which also ended the expansion of the bunker. The bunker area is accessible from the caves and can be visited on a guided cave tour. Further entrances are located behind the Schlossberghotel and in Lagerstrasse. There is a connection to a gallery of the Karlsberg brewery through a 30 meter deep vertical shaft . This used to use the main and secondary tunnels that lead into the mountain behind the properties at Karlsbergstrasse 39 and 41.
geology
The rock is counted among the middle red sandstone, a sediment that was partially formed in the Triassic by wind and sea deposits, as evidenced by the wave-like fossils (ripple marks) in the Schlossberg caves. The reddish part of the red sandstone is due to the iron content of the base material. The otherwise yellowish red sandstone consists of around 95 percent quartz . The temperature in the caves is constant all year round at ten degrees Celsius. The humidity is between 80 and 90 percent.
sightseeing
After a large amount of sand fell from the ceiling of the throne room in 2003 , the cave had to be closed to visitors. The Schlossberg caves were then declared as a visitor mine and have been subject to mining law ever since . In the following years an extensive renovation took place. In addition to the installation of new electrical systems, the areas at risk of collapse were secured with steel scaffolding. Since 2007, the tenth floor has again been accessible to visitors as a show cave .
The caves can only be visited with a guide. They are open every day from February to November. After further renovation and security work had been completed, the two floors 11 and 12 above were again accessible to visitors.
See also
literature
- Stefan Ulrich and Alexander Thon: Castle ruins and Schlossberghöhlen Homburg , Art Guide No. 2636, Verlag Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-6627-5
Web links
- Internet presence of the Schlossberg Caves
- Official website of the city of Homburg about the Schlossberg caves
- Literature about the Schlossberg caves in the Saarland bibliography
- Photo gallery at Spiegel Online
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schlossberg Caves. Homburg.de, accessed on December 28, 2017 .