The Lurgrotte

karst cave Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant r ...

is the largest cave in the

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. It is located about north of

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...

and crosses the Tannenben karst region. The cave has two accessible entrances, one at the village of Semriach and the other at the village of Peggau. At the Semriach entrance, the Lur River sinks into the cave. At the Peggau entrance, the Schmelz River emerges from within the cave, flowing to the west and eventually joining the Mur River.

History

Archaeologists have found material in and around the cave that indicates habitation since the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

era. One specimen, a

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...

bone with tool markings, has been

radiocarbon dated Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

to approximately 52,000 years ago. The cave was first scientifically explored by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

cave explorer Max Brunello on April 1, 1894. While the higher portions of the cave were known to locals, Brunello was the first to discover the lower portion of the cave. The next attempt to explore further provoked disaster. On April 29, 1894, seven cavers entered the Lurgrotte, despite heavy rainfall. A

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing ...

occurred while they were inside, and they wound up trapped for ten days. Emperor

Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until ...

approved a rescue effort, employing large numbers of workers, miners, and divers who bailed out the water and successfully rescued the trapped cavers. In February 1905, members of the

Austrian Tourist Club The Austrian Tourist Club (german: Österreichische Touristenklub) or ÖTK is the second oldest and third largest Alpine club in Austria. The foundation of the club goes back to an initiative by Gustav Jäger, publisher of ''Der Tourist'', the f ...

surveyed of passages within the Lurgrotte. In the 1920s, the cave explorer Hermann Mayer worked with his father to develop the Peggauer section of the Lurgrotte for visitors. In addition, they tried to find a link between the Peggauer entry and Semriach entry. On November 26, 1924, the route was cleared by explosives, but it was not until 1935 that the first crossing was possible. On May 23, 1926, the pioneering female cave explorer Leopoldine Fuhrich fell approximately to her death while exploring Lurgrotte. There is a memorial plaque for her still inside the cave. On February 24, 1927, the city of

Frohnleiten Frohnleiten is a town in the district of Graz-Umgebung in the Austrian state of Styria. Rathaus_Frohnleiten.JPG, Town Hall of Frohnleiten Frohnleiten Baroque gables 264.jpg, Baroque gables at the main square of Frohnleiten Frohnleiten_Oktober_201 ...

hosted an auction for the grotto, including a restaurant, two mansions, and of ground, in the interests of preserving the Lurgrotte as a domestic enterprise. On July 8, 1927, the District Court of Frohnleiten held another auction of the Lurgrotte, which was eventually won by a wine-trader named Pezzi. Pezzi planned to turn the Lurgrotte into a

show cave 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 ...

and construct railway through the cave. The first complete crossing of about long cave succeeded in 1935. In the following years the Lurgrotte was developed into a show cave, with

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

such as bridges, walkways, and lights added for visitors. From 1962 it was possible for visitors to wander through the entire cave, until 1975, when parts of the infrastructure were washed away in a powerful storm. Because the flooding recurs on a yearly basis, the full infrastructure has never been repaired.

Hydrology

The Lurgrotte is a complex, three-level cave which forms a drainage system for the entire Tanneben karst area. Because of its complexity, and the difficulty in exploring the cave's numerous underground channels, the cave's hydrology is poorly understood. It is known that the Lur River enters at the Semriach entry, and the Schmelz River exits from the Peggau side. When rainfall is heavy, excess water from the Lur system can overflow into the Schmelz system, so it is confirmed that there is a high-water connection between the two, although its location and extent are still unknown. Attempts to trace the outflow using dye have shown that the water from the Lur emerges in springs south of the cave, while the flow of the Schmelz appears to originate from sources north of the Lurgrotte.

Tourism

Since the flooding of 1975, it is no longer possible to cross through the caves from one side to another. Visitors can instead tour through a shortened area at each end of the cave. From Peggau, regular guided tours enter into the cave, although in the winter longer tours of up to are available by appointment. From Semriach, tourists have access to approximately of the cave, including its largest gallery, called the ''Big Dome'' or the ''Bear Grotto'' due to the

cave bear The cave bear (''Ursus spelaeus'') is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum. Both the word "cave" and the scientific name ...

bones that have been found within. At long, wide, and a tall, it is one of Central Europe's largest underground rooms.

References

External links

Lurgrotte - Semriacher entrance website

Lurgrotte - Peggauer entrance website
{{Authority control Show caves in Austria Caves of Austria Limestone caves Landforms of Styria Tourist attractions in Styria Graz Highlands

History

Hydrology

Tourism

References

Further reading

External links