The Dechen Cave (german: Dechenhöhle) in

Iserlohn Iserlohn (; Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region. Geography Iserlohn is locat ...

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 ...

is one of the most visited

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 ...

s in Germany. It is located in the northern part of the

Sauerland The Sauerland () is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited. The Sauerland is the largest tourist region in ...

(Grüne district). 360 metres of the 870-metre long cave have been laid out for visitors, beginning at the spot where, in 1868, the cave was discovered by two railway workers. The workers dropped a hammer into a rock crevice which turned out to be the entrance to a

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 ...

when they were searching for the lost tool. The cave is named after ''Oberberghauptmann'' Heinrich von Dechen (1800–1889), in recognition of his contribution to researching the

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

of the

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

and

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

Owner

Due to its discovery by rail workers, the cave was first owned by the local railway company – which built the

Letmathe–Fröndenberg railway The Letmathe–Fröndenberg railway is a two-track, partially electrified and partially disused branch line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. For over 100 years it ran from Letmathe via Iserlohn, Hemer and Menden to Fröndenberg. The ...

– and later on by the National railway company, the last one was the

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...

. In 1983 the cave was taken over by the Mark Sauerland Touristik GmbH.

Railway halt

Because the cave was found and owned by the railway, a halt was built next to the visitors' entrance. Today, the

Ruhr-Sieg-Express The Ruhr-Lenne-Express (RE 16) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, running from Essen via Bochum, Witten, Bochum, Hagen and Iserlohn-Letmathe to . It is operated by DB Regio NRW hourly. History In the ...

(RE16) and Ruhr-Sieg-Bahn (RB91) services stop at the halt. Both the RE16 and the RB91 services are operated by

Abellio Rail NRW Abellio Deutschland is a public transit operator in Germany operating bus and rail networks. Headquartered in Berlin, it is a subsidiary of the Dutch state-owned Abellio. History Abellio Deutschland was formed by the Essen public transit c ...

. It is the only cave in Germany with its own halt.

Owner

Railway halt

See also