Einhornhöhle

Useful Information

Location:	Near Dreistetten, in the Hohe Wand National Park. Autobahn A2, Wöllersdorf exit, towards Piestingtal, Dreistetten. The mouth of the cave is visible for kilometers. Marked footpaths lead from Breistetten about 35 minutes walk and from the Zitherwirt Inn near the ruins of Starhemberg Castle, about 30 minutes walk. Katasternummer 1863/5 (47.857500, 16.089722)
Open:	Easter Monday to SEP (weather permitting) Sun, Hol 9-17. [2022]
Fee:	Adults EUR 4.50, Children EUR 3. [2022]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	LED Regenerative Electricity
Dimension:	L=60 m, VR=5 m, A=585 m asl.
Guided tours:	L=120 m, D=20 min.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Dr. Franz Waldner (1935): Die Einhornhöhle am Hirnflitzstein in der Hohen Wand bei Dreistetten, Mitt. Höhlen- und Karstforschung 1935, S. 70-75. Martina Pacher, Gernot Rabeder (2018): Pleistozäne Höhlenlöwen (Panthera spelaea) in Niederösterreich, Wiss. Mitt. Niederösterr. Landesmuseum 28 67-88 St. Pölten 2018. pdf
Address:	Einhornhöhle, Zitherwirt Otto Langer, A-2713 Dreistetten, Tel: +43-2633-42553, Cell: +43-664-2343467. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1927	explored by Otto Langer senior.
1930	opened to the public.
World War II	closed as a show cave, used as a hideout during the war.
1948	declared a Natural Monument.
1958	reopened as a show cave.
1964	the cave was modernized by Otto Langer junior.

Description

The cave is today named Einhornhöhle (Unicorn Cave), because of the bone breccia of cave bear bones which was found inside. This is obviously a joke, because cave bear bones were thought to be unicorn bones until the 17th century, but the cave was first explored in 1927. The cave is also known as Hirnflitzsteinhöhle and Oakirnlucke, both terms are from the local dialect and incomprehensible even for native German speakers. They are probably not translated for good reason. It seems Otto Langer was a prankster, he also placed a statue of Saint Barbara, the patron Saint of the miners in a niche. There was never any mining in the cave, but it makes the tour a little more interesting.

This cave seems to be a sort of family business of the Langer family. They are the landlords of the Zitherwirt inn in Dreistetten. The cave was explored and opened by Otto Langer senior. Later it was modernized by his son. Both made numerous discoveries during the development of the cave, including bones and teeth of cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) and other animals like the cave lion (Panthera spelaea). Remains from Bronze Age and Hallstadt Age, the remains of a fireplace and bones were also found. However, an archaeological investigation of the cave never seems to have taken place.

The cave is located in a rock face of the Hirnflitzstein, about 600 metres west of the village of Dreistetten and is visible for kilometres. The natural entrance is in the rock face and can only be reached by climbing; once inside, you have to abseil down a shaft. When the cave was converted into a show cave, an artificial access tunnel was created so that visitors can enter the cave at ground level. A wooden house with a beer garden was built in front of the rock face and serves as an entrance building, kiosk and drinks shop. A material cable car transports the goods up to the cave. The beer garden is a great place to relax while waiting for the next tour and enjoy the view. After entering the cave, you first travel along a side corridor, then follow the main corridor. At the end, in a slightly larger room, you can see a few stalagmites that are up to one metre high. Overall, the number of speleothems is unfortunately very limited, a consequence of the Second World War. At that time, the population hid in the cave for some time and many stalactites were destroyed.

As already mentioned, the cave is located in a limestone rock called Hirnflitzstein, but this is part of a kind of escarpment with a whole chain of such rocks. A plateau stretches from Dreistetten to the south-west, which is about 8.5 kilometres long and 2.5 kilometres wide and has such rocks on both long sides. This structure is called Hohe Wand and is protected by the Hohe Wand National Park. The rocks are a popular hiking and climbing area. During the Upper Cretaceous (110-90 Ma), the region was a seawater-filled basin called the Grünbacher Gosaumulde. Sediments were washed into this basin by rivers and deposited as sedimentary rocks. Dreistetten lies on the gravel fan of a tributary that deposited the Dreistetten conglomerate. There was not always salt water in the basin, at times it was also brackish water or fresh water, as can be seen from the many fossilised snails. These are Trochactaeon gigantea, also known as Actaeonella or Gosau snails. The meadow below the cave is also known as Schneckengartl (snail garden) because it is very easy to find such fossils there. After the silting up of the depression, tropical primeval forest formed and coal of various qualities was formed. This was mined in the past, but only on a very small scale because the seams were actually unproductive. Smaller bauxite deposits were also mined for a while. The limestone was then also quarried and burnt in lime kilns; one quarry is still in operation, but lime is no longer burnt here. The karst plateau has 181 caves according to the cave registry, the largest of which is the Tieftalbruchfuge in the Miesenbach valley, which is 140 m long. The area has been inhabited since the Neolithic period and a gold hoard from the early Copper Age (6,000 BP) was found nearby.

But the cave is quite small and the most interesting thing is probably the view from the entrance and the spectacular cliff where it is located. This was the reason why lately a via ferrata named Währinger Klettersteig was created. It has difficulty C and leads up 100 m a vertical limestone wall, with claws and a ladder, even a small cave is crossed. Descend is on the access path of the show cave. Another, much older, via ferrata named Drobilsteig starts at the cave and leads up to the Herrgotschnitzerhaus, a restaurant on top of the Hohe Wand mountain. It’s mostly in the forest and has several long iron ladders.

From the large entrance chamber there is a fine view of the surrounding countryside. A series of small chambers still contain bone breccia dating from the last glacial period. Finds include cave bear and large mammals. Noteworthy are the stalactite formations.

Text by Tony Oldham (2002). With kind permission.