Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes
" Grail "
The caves ( usually: Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes ) is a former mine in Saalfeld, Thuringia, on the edge of the Thuringian Slate Mountains. Famous the fairy grottoes are mainly for their colored stalactites.
Mine
The Fairy Grottoes are the former alum shale mine " Jeremiah luck" and are since 1993 as " the most colorful show caves in the world " in the Guinness Book of World Records. This term goes back to the geological background of the mine. Due to the iron-and mineral-rich milieu many different colors can be found, particularly noteworthy are the more than 100 shades of brown.
The show mine consists of three soles, the name of floors in a mine.
Before starting you will see a " Wurzelstalaktiten ". He belongs to a 200-year, double -stemmed oak, which has its roots driven 10 meters deep into the mountain. The tree itself can be just steps away from the fountain temple where the tour ends see.
Formation of stalactites
The growth rate of speleothems in the Feengrotten is probably a thousand times the stalactite growth in Karbonatkarst. This is due to the material of the stalactites, the relatively soft substance Diadochite or mountain butter, an iron ( III) -hydroxy- phosphate - sulfate hydrate. It was in 1837 investigated and described in detail by August Breithaupt. The Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes are the type locality (locus typicus ) for them.
The mine is located in Silurian alum slate and pebbles. The dissolution process is bound to the part Microbially induced oxidative processes, that is, the oxidation with oxygen in the groundwater only leads to the formation of water-soluble substances, which are then transported away. In the pit different minerals according to the hydrochemical conditions are precipitated.
Meanwhile, more than 45 minerals have been proven safe in the fairy grottoes. There are basically sulfides, oxides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, vanadates, arsenates, and silicates. Since this is very different substances with different colors, the stalactites have an unusual coloring.
History of the mine
Alum shale mine
Around 1530, the active mining began in Arnsgereuther valley above Garnsdorf and thus also in the area of today's fairy grottoes. Searched for more high-quality ore, found only alum, for there was no use. The planned reduction began at 1544th through leaching of the gray-black rock they won, among other alum for tanning leather, and later green and blue to a very limited extent vitriol. In 1599 there should have been a first Siedehütte for the extraction of alum and vitriol. It was not until 1757, it was possible to obtain an over many decades of mining operations alive. By the year 1760 Johann Ehrenreich Jeremiah and Johann Jacob Nolde considered the degradation upright. The mine, now called " Jeremiah's luck ," came into the possession of Leipzig merchant and banking family Frege, who, despite the lack of profitability due to lack of alternative in the alum and Vitriolerzeugung continue operating the mine that dropped profit only in the first decade. 1764 a Vitriolsiedehütte was put into operation, which remained at the same place until the construction of the source of the house in 1927. The onset of industrialization and the development of chemical products with much higher levels of purity brought the dismantling in 1850 to a standstill. Dr. Waldemar von Frege gave the mine, including mining rights in 1860 to the mountain open.
1867 was the Saalfeld entrepreneur August Wohlfarth the mine water in the Long tunnels, the former access to the second floor, damming, to win the ocher is sold for the purpose of pigment ink production. The ocher had too little opacity and too many interfering admixtures and was inferior colors of the chemical industry. 1909 the Ochre recovery was finally stopped.
Mine and destination
1910, the Gallery of the almost forgotten mine was rediscovered. The mineral-rich spring water dripping and had created a fascinating stalactite world in less than 300 years. On December 22, 1913 it was discovered the third floor with the Märchendom and therein famous stalactite. This gave the final impetus to make the fairy caves accessible to the public as a show mine. The naming Feengrotten, Märchendom, Grail comes from the then known throughout Germany geologists Hess of weighting Dorff.
On 31 May 1914, Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes were opened. With the opening of a coffee house, the " grotto tavern " was born. This was extended in the 1950s to a growing lightweight and the guest room was closed. In 1998, accompanied by a complete renovation of the building according to historic patterns in the style of the 20s. Since then, the grotto tavern is used as a tourist restaurant and for celebrations.
The spring house was built in 1927 as the seat of the company founded three years earlier source research institute for the study of mineral springs in Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes. In the rooms of the source house research laboratories were mostly housed. In the basement there was a bottling plant for medicinal and mineral waters obtained from the fairy grottoes. There was also a banquet hall, which later became today's "guest house Feengrotten " rebuilt.
Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes today
At present the spring house next to the inn the management of Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes and Tourism GmbH, three guest rooms and one apartment. As part of a new concept for the museum experience " Grottoneum " was established in 2011. The inn has been extensively refurbished. The motives of the original preserved mosaic glass windows in the stairwell of the house source point to the importance and healing power of the waters of the Feengrotten: Recentis vivum aqua - Refreshes with living water, Salus et vitalis - well-being and vitality.
In the outdoor area are the inaugurated on July 9, 1937 Fountain Hall, the " sacred well " Ausschankort of decisions taken in the caves and for the treatment led to the outside spa and mineral waters, which was restored in 1998, and a " craft center ". Further, on the grounds of a play and adventure area " Feenweltchen " set up. Apart from the usual tours of the exhibition mine tours for children are offered daily. In addition, the Feengrotten be used as a healing cave to cave speleo or therapy as side-effect free alternative or complement to conventional medicine for respiratory diseases such as asthma and bronchitis, as well as in skin disorders and allergies. The Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes are a member of the German Association of Great Salvation.
Since 1914, over 20 million people (as of 2007) visited the mine, including well-known personalities. The then President Ebert visited the fairy grottoes on 18 August 1919., The Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes are visited each year by about 160,000 tourists, making them the second most visited show cave in German by the Atta cave. [Note 1]