The list of show caves in Germany contains all 51

show caves A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

which are hosted by the

German Speleological Federation The German Speleological Federation (german: Verband der deutschen Höhlen- und Karstforscher, VdHK) is an umbrella organisation for speleologists in Germany and a point of contact for the issues connected with caves and karst landscapes. 90 regio ...

. (german: Verband der Deutschen Höhlen- and Karstforscher)

Background

As of 2008, there have been 51 show caves in

, which are hosted by the

(german: Verband der Deutschen Höhlen- and Karstforscher). A show cave is defined as any cave equipped for

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

s, by having walkways or steps, fitted with lighting, or supplying gear, as examples. Show caves have regular opening times, usually with regular guided tours of about 30 to 45 minutes duration and are almost all electrically lighted. Only the Easter Cave and the

Schellenberg Ice Cave The Schellenberg Ice Cave is a cave located in the Berchtesgaden Alps in Upper Bavaria, Germany, near the Austrian border. The cave belongs to the Untersberg massif, at 1570 metres above sea level, and is the only ice cave open in Germany. It ...

still use

carbide lamp Carbide lamps, or acetylene gas lamps, are simple lamps that produce and burn acetylene (C2H2) which is created by the reaction of calcium carbide (CaC2) with water (H2O). Acetylene gas lamps were used to illuminate buildings, as lighthouse b ...

s. In 1884 the Olga Cave was the first German show cave to be equipped with electrical lighting and the second in the world to be thus fitted. Only the Kraus Cave in the Styria 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 ...

was equipped earlier, in 1883. Not included on this list are the artificially created caverns Schlossberg Caves and Saalfeld Fee Grottos, although these are listed with the German Speleological Federation, as their operators are paying members. Also not in the main list is Balve Cave, because it has no regular guided tours or visits. Included is the Dienstedt Karst Cave, which is not part of the German Speleological Federation, but fulfils all the conditions of a show cave. The cave which had the first guided tours was Baumann's Cave in the Rübeland; Tours of this cave were organised as early as 1646 and it was visited by

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

. The latest to be opened as a show cave was the Autumn Labyrinth in 2009. More than half the show caves are

dripstone cave Dripstone may refer to: *Hood mould or dripstone, an architectural feature for handling rain water * Dripstone, a type of speleothem (cave formation) that includes for example stalactites * Dripstone, a type of water filter made of porous stone * D ...

s. The Wimsen Cave is the only show cave in Germany accessible by boat, for a distance of 70 metres. The Goetz Cave is the only fissure cave in the list and the largest publicly accessible cave in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. The

Laichingen Vertical Cave Laichingen is a town in the district of Alb-Donau near Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It has 10,964 inhabitants (2005). Geography Geographical location Laichingen is located on the Laichingen Alb, a branch of the Swabian Jura. It is locate ...

is the only shaft cave that can be viewed in Germany, having a depth of 55 metres below the entrance and reaches the greatest depth of any German show cave. The Schellenberg Ice Cave is the only

ice cave An ice cave is any type of natural cave (most commonly lava tubes or limestone caves) that contains significant amounts of perennial (year-round) ice. At least a portion of the cave must have a temperature below 0 °C (32 °F) all ...

in Germany that can be visited. In the

Barbarossa Cave The Barbarossa Cave (german: Barbarossahöhle) is an anhydrite cave (gypsum cave) in the Kyffhäuser Hills near Rottleben in the east German state of Thuringia. It is a cave with large caverns, grottos and lakes. The anhydrite has formed gypsum ...

, which is formed of anhydrite stone, loose layers of plaster hang like

wallpaper Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so ...

from the ceilings and walls.

Legend

* Name of the show cave : states the name of the show cave. * Location: gives the location of the show cave. * State: gives the state in which the show cave is found. : * Location: gives the coordinates of the show caves. * Geological classification: states the geological type of cave. It may be a limestone cave, rock cave, karst cave or other type. * Length (m): gives the total length of the show cave in metres including all branches. * GR (m): gives the total length of the guided route in metres, ignoring any doubling of walkways. It does include any artificial access walkways that are not part of the total length of the cave. So the guided route may be longer than the total length of the cave. * Height: gives the height of the entrance above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. * Discovery: is the date of discovery of the show cave. Most show caves were known by the local population much earlier, because they sometimes had a natural entrance accessible on foot. In these cases the year the cave is first mentioned in the records is shown in brackets. * Show caves : gives the start of its operation as a show cave. Subsequent problems with safety, the impact of war, financial issues or changes of owner may have led to long interruptions in its use as a show cave. * Electr. Light: states the year when electrical lighting was first installed. * Visitors (annual): gives the latest (2004 to 2008) average, annual visitor numbers. If the number is in brackets it indicates the recent, average number of visitors, over a different, unspecified period.

Table

Disputed caves

Several caves are sometimes described in the literature as ''show caves'', although they do not meet the criteria. These include the Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes and Schlossberg Caves which are not ''natural caverns'', but mines, and the Zwiefaltendorf Limestone Cave and the Balve Cave, which have no ''regular guided tours''.

Gallery

Image:BinghoehleStalagmit.jpg, Stalagmites in the Bing Cave File:Schellenberger_Eishoehle.jpg, Entrance area of the Schellenberg Ice Cave File:Wimsener_Höhle,_Eingang.jpg, Entrance to the Wimsen Cave File:Dragon Cave Syrau.jpg, Syrauer Dragon Cave File:Nebelhoehle_2006.jpg, The Nebel Cave File:Teufelshoehle.jpg, Stalagmite group in the Teufel's Cave near Pottenstein

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Ernst Waldemar Bauer: '' Wunderwelt der Höhlen''. Hrsg. v. Bechtle Verlag, Esslingen 2001 * Stephan Kempe, Wilfried Rosendahl: ''Höhlen – Verborgene Welten.'' Primus Verlag, Stuttgart 2008 * Hans Binder, Anke Lutz, Hans Martin Lutz: ''Schauhöhlen in Deutschland''. Hrsg. v. Aegis Verlag, Ulm 1993 * Stephan Kempe ''Welt voller Geheimnisse – Höhlen.'' Reihe: HB Bildatlas Sonderausgabe. Hrsg. v. HB Verlags- and Vertriebs-Gesellschaft, 1997 * Hans Binder: Herbert Jantschke: ''Höhlenführer Schwäbische Alb''. Hrsg. v. DRW-Verlag, Leinefelden-Echterdingen 2003 * Hans Binder: ''Höhlen der Schwäbischen Alb.'' Hrsg. v. DRW-Verlag, Leinefelden-Echterdingen 1995 * Friedrich Herrmann: ''Höhlen der Fränkischen and Hersbrucker Schweiz.'' Hrsg. v. Verlag Hans Carl, Nürnberg 1991 * Friedhart Knolle, Wilhelm Marbach: ''Bergwerke & Höhlen im Harz.'' Hrsg. v. Studio Volker Schadach, Goslar 1998 * Stephan Lang: ''Höhlen in Franken. Wanderführer in die Unterwelt der Fränkischen Schweiz mit neuen Touren.'' Hrsg. v. Fachverlag Hans Carl, Nürnberg 2006 * Stephan Lang: ''Höhlen in Franken. Ein Wanderführer in die Unterwelt der Hersbrucker Schweiz und des Oberpfälzer Jura.'' Hrsg. v. Verlag Hans Carl, Nürnberg 2002 * Hardy Schabdach: ''Unterirdische Welten, Höhlen der Fränkischen- und Hersbrucker Schweiz.'' Hrsg. v. Verlag Reinhold Lippert, Ebermannstadt 2000 * Helmut Seitz: ''Schaubergwerke, Höhlen und Kavernen in Bayern.'' Hrsg. Rosenheimer Verlagshaus, Rosenheim 1993 * Volker Sklenar, K. R. Hoffmann, I. Pustal, G. Kuhn, M. Meissner, A. Nestler, R. Cebulla, R. Fohlert, J. Bodenstein, G. Holzhey: ''Thuringia Untertage.'' Hrsg. v. Thüringer Landesanstalt für Umwelt und Geologie, Jena 2006

Show caves A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

Caves, show