Dechen Cave
Kaiserhalle in Dechenhöhle
The Dechenhöhle Iserlohn is one of the most visited show caves in Germany, located in the northern Sauerland Iserlohn (district Green ).
History
Expanded Visitors are 360 of 870 meters of the cave, starting at the point where in 1868 the cave of two railway workers were discovered. The workers dropped a hammer in a crevice, which turned out to be access to a limestone cave in the search for this tool.
The cave is named after the chief mining Heinrich von Dechen (1800-1889), in recognition of his contributions to the study of the geology of the Rhineland and Westphalia. From Dechen visited the cave, just as Johann Carl Fuhlrott, the discoverer of Neanderthal man, who was looking in the cave after bone and developed a first cave map. It is a great turns in pulling through the limestone karst cave, the most spacious barrel-shaped transition profile is lined with a variety of different sintering molds ( stalactites, stalagmites, sinter cascades wall Inter pools, etc. ). This wealth also of crystalline deposits makes them particularly worth seeing, so it has been removed immediately after their discovery to visitors. Due to their relatively high position overlooking the green valley it is no longer flowing through it for thousands of years by water and under the floor instead Inter powerful clay deposits form the cave floor. Among the inhabitants of the cave include the Höhlenradnetzspinne (meta menardi ) and bats.
Today can be seen here next to the cave in 2006, the newly opened and well equipped German Cave Museum. In addition to the documentation for the global caving this museum also displays significant finds from the Dechenhöhle itself, like the skeleton of excavated here in 2000, the cave bear babies and the skull of a forest or Merck's rhinoceros, which was discovered in 1993 and a very rare cave sites in Westphalia represents. These finds were recovered from the vast clay deposits of the cave floor. An archaeological excavation site, which shows visitors to the cave, a reference situation can be visited during a cave guide.
The cave is located in a Devonian Massenkalksenke, extending from Hagen to Balve. Other smaller show caves are found in Hemer ( Heinrichshöhle ) and Hönnetal ( Reckenhöhle ). The Dechenhöhle is one of the many caves of Green Valley, who combined total of over 17 km corridor length. The longest single cave that B7- cave is 5,400 meters long. The curious name comes from the Federal Highway 7, in its expansion, the front parts of the cave were discovered. Here, too, as most of the caving, be given more information in the new cave museum.
A tour through the cave takes about 40 minutes. In addition to the normal exhibition tours, concerts and music tours take place in the cave. In the cave may not be photographed or filmed during the regular guided tours.
Transport links
It is the only show cave in Germany the Dechenhöhle has its own railway stop. This is located right next to the visitors' entrance of the cave on the railway line Letmathe - Fröndenberg, all regional express trains from Iserlohn to Essen and Bochum and Hagen Regional trains from Iserlohn to Hagen keep it there.