The Crystal Cave near Weilburg (called the Kubacher Kristallhöhle in German, and located in “Kubach”) is a something very special.  This type of cave is apparently the only one of its kind in Germany, and there is a fascinating story to its discovery.

The story goes that in 1881 miners looking for phosphorite stumbled by chance on an underground cave full of stalagtites and stalagmites that was so big, apparently the local church was said to have fitted in it.  But as this was not the mineral that they were looking for, the entrance was filled in and the cave’s location forgotten.

Except that not only did the miners tell other local people and even the press about the cave, they allegedly brought some of the stalagtites back to the surface that are now in a local museum.

Over the years the story was passed on about the cave, until in 1973 holes were bored in the area that it was believed to be located in.

Whilst those boreholes did not find the cave being sought after, it did find one with rare crystals on the wall. [Read more…]