Erdstall Ratgöbluckn


Useful Information

Location: Stephaniehain, 4320 Perg.
From Salzburg motorway A1 exit Enns-Ost, federal road B115 direction Ennsdorf, federal road B123 direction Mauthausen, federal road 3 to Perg.
From Vienna motorway A1 to exit St. Valentin, federal road 1 and federal road B123 towards Mauthausen, federal road 3 to Perg.
(48.252503, 14.634637)
Open: After appontment.
[2025]
Fee: Adults EUR 3, School Pupils EUR 2.
Steinbrecher-Spaziergang: Adults EUR 7, School Pupils EUR 3.
[2025]
Classification: SubterraneaErdstall
Light: LightIncandescent
Dimension: L=106 m.
Guided tours:  
Photography:  
Accessibility:  
Bibliography: Karl Stummer (1962): Der Erdstall Ratgöbluckn in Perg In: Institut für oberösterreichische Landeskunde (Hrsg.): Oberösterreichische Heimatblätter. Jahrgang 16, Heft 1, Jänner – März 1962, S. 56ff pdf Deutsch - German
Rudolf Zach (1975): Der Erdstall Ratgöbluckn in Perg – ein Kulturdenkmal In: Institut für oberösterreichische Landeskunde (Hrsg.): Oberösterreichische Heimatblätter. Jahrgang 29, Heft 1/2, 1975, S. 101f pdf Deutsch - German
Rudolf Zach (1969): Der Erdstall Ratgöbluckn In: Perg im Spiegel der Geschichte. In: Stadtgemeinde Perg (Hrsg.): Perg, Festschrift anlässlich der Stadterhebung 1969. Linz 1969. Deutsch - German
Address: Heimat- und Museumsverein Perg, Stifterstraße 1, 4320 Perg. E-mail:
Franz Moser, Obmann, Tel: +43-650-5427786.
Rosina Pfeiffer, Kustodin und Kultur-Vermittlerin, Tel: +43-664-2159788.
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

1881 Stephaniehain created as a walkway by the Verschönerungsverein (beautification association).
1905 Michael Fries, head of the Perg municipal council, arranges for the Erdstall to be protected from collapse by supports and walls in the corridors.
1944 Examined, surveyed and map drawn as part of a school project.
1945 Closure by a wall at the instigation of the market town council.
1975 Erdstall made accessible again by the Perg local history and museum association.
2002 Electric light installed.
2002 Location for a three-part film about the Thirty Years' War.
2009 listed as a Historical Monument.
2011 Short film by the Mining theatre group filmed in the Erdstall.

Description

The Ratgöbluckn Erdstall is located in the town of Perg and is often referred to as part of the Perg Museum. In fact, the Perg Museum and various listed buildings such as the Ratgöbluckn Erdstall, the Scherer millstone quarry and the stone crusher’s house are looked after by the Perg Heritage and Museum Association. The association organises trips, excursions, readings and celebrations. Only the museum has regular opening hours, everything else is organised by appointment for groups.

The Erdstall is a labyrinth of corridors and small rooms which, although quite large for an Erdstall, makes certain demands on visitors. You have to stoop and should not suffer from claustrophobia. 22 corridors connect 8 chambers, the total length is 106 metres. The outer half of the corridors is in sandstone, the inner half in Flins, the local dialect term for weathered granite. There are two niches called seating niches and 19 called light niches. The reason is simple, the larger ones are big enough and at the right height to be used as seating, the smaller ones can be used to put lamps in. Whether they were actually intended for this purpose is of course unknown, just like everything else with Erdstalls. And because they are so mysterious, there are various local legends about their purpose.

They are said to have been a secret passage to the castle of the Lords of Perg on the Dollberg, or to the Perg market, or even to Mitterberg Castle several kilometres away. Smile SmileCustomize Toolbar… of this kind are not unusual, they are so common that we have even categorised them. And alongside the "historical" legends, there are also contemporary ones. People write that these were medieval refuge caves and that people hid there during raids and looting. If you look at the lack of space, the lack of an emergency exit and the inadequate ventilation, this seems rather unlikely. Another legend that persists is the claim that Erdstalls date back to around 1,000. This has long been the most obvious hypothesis, but never more than a guess. It is more likely that they date back to the Celtic period and were reactivated as cellars for a short time in the Middle Ages, and in some cases even reworked. Whatever the case, nothing is known about the date of origin of the Ratgöbluckn. But the strangest modern legend sounds like a superlative: "the largest safely accessible Erdstall in the Mühlviertel". Since the characteristic and special thing about Erdstalls is their small size, this sounds like praising a Ferrari for its fuel efficiency.

This section will be the shortest: there are no hard facts about this subterranea. We don’t know how old it is and we don’t know what purpose it had. We can assume that it was used as a cellar in the Middle Ages, because it was probably smaller before, like the other Erdstalls, and was then extended slightly in the Middle Ages to be used as a cellar. The problem is that Erdstalls are usually completely empty, and the cavity itself cannot be dated; that would only be possible with any contents. The only thing that is known is that the name comes from the local dialect, from "Ratgöb sei Lucka", Ratgöb’s hole. Ratgöb was the name of the farm, not the name of the farmer who owned the land and used the Erdstall as a cellar.

We know a little more about the recent past. The barn was probably always known to local residents, even if very few people ever entered it. However, it became known to a wider public when Stephaniehain was created in 1881, when the beautification association laid it out as a footpath and named it after Archduke Rudolf’s wife, Princess Stephanie of Belgium. And so the entrance became visible to walkers. However, nothing happened at first, and it was not until 1905 that Michael Fries, head of the Perg municipal council, arranged for the Erdstall to be protected from collapse by supports and walls in the corridors. Whether this was really necessary is unclear; after all, the Erdstall had probably survived several thousand years without collapsing. And again, nothing happened for a long time. Strangely enough, in 1944, at the end of the Second World War, the Erdstall was finally examined for the first time. On behalf of the district administrator Gustav Brachmann, a school project was organised under the direction of secondary school headmaster Karl Stummer. Pupils in Year 4 at Perg secondary school, i.e. 10-year-olds, explored the tunnels, surveyed them and drew a plan. The following year, the Erdstall was bricked up at the instigation of the market town council. The reasons for both actions are not known, but one can only assume that it was checked whether the Erdstall was suitable as an air raid shelter, and when it was clear that it was not, it was ensured that it could not be used as a shelter for anyone.

The Erdstall was made accessible again in 1975 by the Perg local history and museum association, which still looks after it today. The wall was torn down and the entrance was secured with a granite wall and closed with a wrought-iron gate. From this point onwards, the Erdstall was once again open to the public. Curiously, however, the association used torches for the guided tours, which conflicted somewhat with the protection of the Erdstall. It was not until 2002 that the torches were replaced by electric lighting.