Hohlloch bei St. Wolfgang

Useful Information

Location:	St Wolfgang 5, 92355 Velburg. (49.2383212, 11.6860343)
Open:	No restrictions. [2025]
Fee:	free. [2025]
Classification:	Karst Cave Collapsed Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=100 m, Ar=2,000 m². Portal: W=16 m, H=12 m.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Hohlloch, St Wolfgang 5, 92355 Velburg.
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

1467	St. Wolfgang Church built.
1757	Pilgrimage church redesigned in Baroque style.
1895 bis 1898	Archaeological excavations by Prof. Max Schlosser.

Description

The Hohlloch bei St. Wolfgang (lit: Hollow Hole near St. Wolfgang) is a cave ruin of impressive dimensions. The portal is 16 m wide and 12 m high, followed by a room of the same size that is 100 m long and has no stalactite or stalagmite formations. Cave ruin means that a once larger cave became smaller and smaller due to the erosion of a valley and the general erosion of the limestone, as parts of the cave were completely eroded. The size is certainly due in large part to frost weathering, i.e. freezing water in crevices expanding and breaking up the rock. This also completely destroyed the stalactite and stalagmite formations that presumably once existed.

The name of the cave is Hohlloch, the rest describes where it is located. The names Hohlloch, Hohler Stein or Hohler Fels, which alle mean hollow rock, are quite common. Where possible, attempts are made to add a place name to these names in order to reduce the risk of confusion, in this case Hohlloch bei St. Wolfgang. St. Wolfgang is a small hamlet with the Catholic Church of St. Wolfgang, a pilgrimage church built in 1467 in Gothic style and redesigned in Baroque style in 1757. The village was renamed after this church; it was originally named after the Holnstein cave, and in the first documented mention in the 13th century, the village was called Holnsteine. The plural form is easily explained: above the village, there are about half a dozen caves on the slope, which are also known as the Wolfgangshöhlen (Wolfgang caves). There is the Kleines Hohlloch, the Kuhloch, the Zigeunerloch, the Abri near the Zigeunerloch and the Räuberloch. It is quite possible that these are all parts of a formerly connected cave. It's also nice that the Zigeunerloch (Gypsy hole) hasn't yet been renamed Sinti and Roma hole.

Due to its size and flat floor, the Hohlloch is suitable as a venue for events. Every year on Whitsun weekend, the traditional cave festival of the Velburg town band takes place here. Beer tables and benches are set up inside and outside the cave and the usual food and drinks for a Franconian Bierfest are available. Otherwise, the cave is freely accessible all year round. As far as we know, it is not frequented by bats and can therefore also be visited in winter. Like the former pilgrimage church, the caves are also very popular destinations for excursions. In addition, the entire region is touristy, especially in summer and on weekends with good weather, when large numbers of visitors can be expected. Unfortunately, this also has the disadvantage that the caves here are a target for graffiti sprayers. For this reason, the local speleologists organise a clean-up campaign every few years to remove the graffiti.

Due to its size and location, the cave was an excellent resting place for Stone Age people, both for hunting parties and for the entire tribe. Accordingly, the sediments in the cave yielded a wealth of archaeological finds. During the construction of the beer storage room at the end of the cave, two Neolithic stone cist graves were discovered. In addition, remains of cave bears, cave lions, giant deer and 36 different species of rodents were found. Some of it was also destroyed, as the Kleine Hohlloch was used as a beer storage cellar by the Gasthof zum Schwarzen Bären inn in Velburg from 1830 to 1910. The aforementioned storage room in the cave was the beer cellar for the Gasthaus zur Post inn in Velburg. From 1895 to 1898, Prof. Max Schlosser conducted excavations here. The finds are now housed in the Natural History Museum in Regensburg. There are also the Velburger Bildsteine (Velburg picture stones), rather naive depictions of people and Christian scenes. Legend has it that they were discovered in the caves during excavations carried out by the pharmacist Wirsching and the master mason Bayerl from Velburg around 1900. If you want to see them, you have to go to the Natural History Museum in Nuremberg, where several pieces are kept in the collection of Gabriel von Max.