Baumann's Cave in Rübeland

Full of surprises and more relaxing than the hustle and bustle in the valley, a circular hike around Rübeland awaits you. A path behind Rübeland station leads up to the Hohen Kleef (checkpoint of the Harz Hiking Pin). Along the Bode Valley runs the Harz Witches' Trail, which can be followed as far as Neuwerk. At the Bode Bridge, we leave it to the left and walk uphill over the Krockstein, past the Marble Mill and the Blue Lake, through a lovely meadow landscape back to the starting point. At the Schornsteinfegerberg there’s another great viewpoint over Rübeland, this time above the Baumann’s Cave. The circular trail is eight kilometres long.

The court painter of Brunswick, Conrad Buno (1613–1671), created three views of the Baumann Cave as well as 200 other illustrations for the Brunswick topography of 1564. In Frankfurt/Main, the plates were then engraved by the publisher Matthäus Merian and published with an academic text in 1654 as a thick book. The Brunswick volume is the best of all sixteen German topographies, which achieved sensational success at the time and saw several reprints. They fulfilled the growing desire for geographic exploration of the world and for images, right after the harsh times of the Thirty Years’ War.

Why is the Brunswick volume the best? Because the ruler and book lover Duke Augustus the Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel took the publisher’s request seriously. He understood the economic added value of knowledge and commissioned his court painter to create authentic images, also covering the costs for carriage and accommodation. Buno travelled for three years and spared no effort. He surely crawled into the Baumann Cave himself.

Until the late 19th century, the five chambers of the Baumann Cave could only be reached by crawling. What is now the final chamber of the cave tour used to be the first one back then. Two old texts show what it was like at the time. A traveller in 1804 describes the troubles and tourist rivalry: “When we noticed a few loosened stalactites, our guide sighed and said: yes, you see! That’s what our enemies did. And when we asked him to explain these mysterious words, he told us that his rivals, the guides of the Biel Cave, wanted to lure all travellers to their place and therefore had even smashed a number of stalactites here, just to rob the older cave sister of at least part of her fame. So even down here, into the bowels of the earth, into these awe-inspiring caves, envy finds its way. (…) That story seemed quite plausible to me when, after returning from this trip, I saw the Biel Cave being praised in public papers in loud tones in comparison with the Baumann Cave.”

In 1846, advertising went as follows, giving us an idea of how the famous stalactites were lost or became unattractive: “The Baumann’s Cave (…) is widely known as one of the greatest curiosities of the Harz and is constantly visited by large numbers of travellers. Its spacious vaults and grottos, the variety of its shapes, give it precedence over most similar caves, and no visitor to the Harz should miss seeing it. It is so conveniently arranged that it can easily and safely be visited even by ladies and children. The guides light it on request with tallow candles for a modest fee. The illumination with Bengal lights or Greek fire with rockets, flares, etc., or the performance of horn music within, makes an impressive sight. The guides are happy to take care of such arrangements.”