The Barbarossa Cave (german: Barbarossahöhle) is an

anhydrite Anhydrite, or anhydrous calcium sulfate, is a mineral with the chemical formula CaSO4. It is in the orthorhombic crystal system, with three directions of perfect cleavage parallel to the three planes of symmetry. It is not isomorphous with the ...

cave (

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...

cave) in the

Kyffhäuser The Kyffhäuser (,''Duden - Das Aussprachewörterbuch, 7. Auflage (German)'', Dudenverlag, sometimes also referred to as ''Kyffhäusergebirge'', is a hill range in Central Germany, shared by Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, southeast of the Harz mou ...

Hills near

Rottleben Rottleben is a village and a former municipality in the district Kyffhäuserkreis, in Thuringia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in ...

in the east German state of

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

. It is a

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

with large caverns, grottos and lakes. The

has formed

on the surface due to the air moisture in the cave and, as a result, has increased in volume. The resulting layers of gypsum gradually separate from the underlying rock and hang like wallpaper from the walls and ceilings of the caverns. It was discovered in 1865 as a

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...

was being driven during

prospecting Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. Traditionally prospecting reli ...

work for ''kupferschiefer'', a copper-bearing

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

or bituminous

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

. By 1866 it had been developed and opened as 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 ...

under the name of Falkenburg Cave (''Falkenburger Höhle''). It has a floor area of about 25,000 m². Of interest to visitors are the underground lakes whose gypsum content gives them an iridescent green colour, and a human made stone construction, known as Barbarossa's Table and Chair (''Tisch und Stuhl von Barbarossa''). Its location in the Kyffhäuser Hills gave rise to its link with the Barbarossa Legend and its proximity to the

Kyffhäuser Monument The Kyffhäuser (,''Duden - Das Aussprachewörterbuch, 7. Auflage (German)'', Dudenverlag, sometimes also referred to as ''Kyffhäusergebirge'', is a hill range in Central Germany, shared by Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, southeast of the Harz mou ...

led to it being renamed the Barbarossa Cave (''Barbarossahöhle'') at the end of the 19th century. According to the legend,

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

will sleep in an underground palace until Germany is unified. His beard is growing around a round table. To date, it has gone around the table twice, but when it has encircled the table a third time, the end of the world will begin or Barbarossa will awaken and begin his reign anew. According to the legend, until then, there will be no other good emperors. The Barbarossa Cave lies on the

Karst Trail The Karst Trail (german: Karstwanderweg) is a marked and signed footpath that runs for over 250 kilometres between Förste in Lower Saxony and Pölsfeld in Saxony-Anhalt through the karst landscape of the Harz, South Harz in Germany. The path ru ...

Literature

* Günter Behm-Blancke: ''Höhlen Heiligtümer Kannibalen. Ein archäologischer Tatsachenbericht aus dem Kyffhäuser.'' Hrsg. v. Dingsda-Verlag Querfurt, Leipzig, 2005,

External links

The "Barbarossa Cave" near Rottleben in the Kyffhäuser Hills, geotope description by the Thuringian State Department for the Environment and Geology (TLUG)

Official internet site
* http://www.showcaves.com/german/de/showcaves/Barbarossa.html

{{Authority control Caves of Germany Gypsum caves Karst formations of Germany Kyffhäuser Kyffhäuserkreis Landforms of Thuringia Show caves in Germany Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

See also

Literature

External links