Lamprechtsofen (also called Lamprechtshöhle, Lamprechtsofenhöhle or, together with a connected cave, Lamprechtsofen-Vogelschacht) is a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

karst

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

cave in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. With a depth of , it is one of the deepest caves in the world. Before the discovery of the Krubera Cave in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, it was the deepest-known cave in the world. Lamprechtsofen is located northwest of Weißbach bei Lofer (

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

, in the Leogang Mountains.

History

Early history

The cave has been known for centuries. In 1701 it was walled up to prevent the intrusion of treasure seekers, who were lured to the cave by legends of wealth hidden by a knight named Lamprecht after the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. In 1905, several human skeletons were found in the cave, probably the remains of treasure hunters. At the same time, a portion of the cave was opened to the public as a show cave.

Exploration and depth record

The exploration of Lamprechtsofen has been primarily conducted from the bottom (from the resurgence of its cave river), rather than the top-down exploration typical for vertical caves. On August 19, 1998, a team led by Polish caver Andrzej Ciszewski discovered a connection between Lamprechtsofen and the PL-2 cave system, which established the height difference of the united cave system as . This new discovery made Lamprechtsofen the deepest-known cave in the world for less than three years, as Krubera was discovered in June 2001 to be deep. As of 2014, Lamprechtsofen is the fourth-deepest cave in the world, as two more Georgian caves have since been discovered to be deeper.

Sarma Cave Sarma Cave ( ka, სარმის მღვიმე), located in Gagra District of Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia, is the third deepest recorded cave in the world. Its current depth (1830 m) was measured in 2012 by a team led by Pavel ...

is and Illyuzia-Mezhonnogo-Snezhnaya Cave is . On August 14, 2018 a Polish expedition connects the CL3 chasm to the Lamprechtsofen allowing the cavity to reach the depth of 1735 m.

Show cave

Today, about are open to visitors, a portion of the cave that covers a altitude difference. Because of the cave's river, it is subject to flooding from heavy rain and melting snow. As such, visitors and explorers have been occasionally trapped in the cave.

References

External links