Lummelundagrottan

Mouth of the cave from the inside of Lummelunda

The Grotto of Lummelunda (Swedish Lummelundagrottan ) or Cave of Lummelunda is a stalactite cave in the parish Lummelunda on the Swedish island of Gotland. Your input is Lummelunda bruk on the west coast of the island to the west of Länsväg 149, 13 km north of Visby and 5 km south of the city Lummelunda with the church. The cave and the environment of the entry form a 16 hectare nature reserve. The cave is also called Rövarkulan ( den of thieves ).

The river Lummelundaån flows for a distance of more than 1.3 km below the earth, and so did the cave washed out in the calcareous soil. The Lummelundaån arises when Moor Martebo Myr and occurs on the cliffs of the natural cave entrance to light. Because diking and draining of parts of the bog in the 19th century, the water flow has decreased. Overall, it has been demonstrated for the cave has a length of about three kilometers; However, it is believed that the overall length is not substantially larger. For guides an estimated length of 8 km was mentioned. With the detected length of about 4 km, it is the second longest known cave in Sweden after Korallgrottan in Jämtland.

In the cave you will find some interesting limestone figures.

History

The existence of the cave was known since the 17th century, although it had then been discovered yet no walk-in access. 1924 took the zoologist Torsten Gislén the first a number of documented attempts to enter the cave. However, it was only about 40 m wide. The three boys Örjan Håkansson, Percy Nilsson and Lars Olsson finally discovered a connection. In 1948, they had begun to investigate the cave system. When she was two years later in the cave, came off a big block of stone from the ceiling and widened a narrow opening in the mountain wall. Behind a 20 m long corridor, which today is called Pojkarnas gång (Gang of boys) opened. Through the corridor leads into the cathedral Bergakungens sal and into the hall Kapellet, which will also be shown during guided tours. A lake behind the hall could only overcome in 1955 with the help of an inflatable boat boys. So they could 175 m further inroads into the grotto. In 1959 a tunnel was built, which allowed the general public to visit the part of the cave with the corridors and rooms that had discovered the boy.

A further 400 m transitions were discovered, crossed four siphons in the grotto as a diver in September 1985. It was discovered while the biggest halls in the cave.

Tourism

Today, about 100,000 tourists a year visit the grotto. It is open from May to September. It is thus one of the most visited tourist attractions on the island. Most visitors visit the 130 m long grotto tourists. In addition, there are guided tours where you can advance further in small groups into the cave.