Top 20 Caves 슈바르젠 주변

Historically interesting, sure, but it's just a "dark hole."

Construction began at the end of World War II and was intended to serve as an air raid shelter. After the war, explosives were stored here. May 30, 2019.

Mining has shaped the village of Altlay and its residents and given the village its name Altlay. In local dialect, a lay is a roofing slate. Anyone who visits the narrow stream valleys around Altlay will not fail to notice striking evidence of mining here and there. Here, at every turn, you come across the remains of what was once a fairly extensive, predominantly small-scale roofing slate mining operation. Slate is still mined in Altlay today. Source: https://www.tourenplaner-rheinland-pfalz.de/de/punkt/bergwerk/altlayer-schiefergrube/2798106/

Again and again you come across evidence of slate mining

I didn't try to go in.

Not very deep, but certainly an adventure for smaller children.

In 1880, Friedrich Wilhelm Franz from Wohnroth began digging a tunnel in the Katzenloch forest. He wanted to mine the coveted roofing slate here. However, the work was not crowned with success, the slate was of little use. He wasn't blue enough, as the technical term goes. Not hard enough we would say, it weathered too easily on the roof. So the work was soon abandoned. Today, the short, angled tunnel, also known as the Schnäirersch Leyebruch, is often used by children as a playground. Source: https://wohnroth-hunsrueck.de/geschichte-und-geschichten/schiefergruber.html

The tunnel leads a long way straight into the mountain to a collapsed mining dome. There you can squeeze into a tunnel that branches off to the left, which leads to another, two-part cathedral, from which several branches lead up and down, but a few rockfalls prevent you from progressing.