Hobbit-like cave dwellings in Langenstein, Harz, Germany
Did you know that people still live in caves in the 21st century? In France, Spain, Italy, China, Turkey or USA, there are still a number of “cave dwellers“ residing in rock houses. Most of them have all the modern comforts, and some of them are actually great selling points for travellers, as it is the case in Cappadocia, Turkey, or Andalucia, Spain, where you can even rent a cave house.
Of course, Tolkien spoiled cave-living for us. We would naturally expect a clean and dry comfortable hole, with an obligatory round green door, cozy bedroom, overflowing pantries, wardrobe, kitchen, a bright dining-room and a lush garden with flowers climbing all the way to the roof of the hobbit hole.
We recently got the chance to visit the cave dwellings (Höhlenwohnungen) in Langenstein, near Halberstadt, the largest town in Harz district and gateway to the Harz mountains (Saxony Anhalt, Germany). They are likely to break the spell of idyllic hobbit-style living and shake you back to the reality of 18th and 19th century austerity and frugality.
The story of the cave houses in Langenstein is interesting but simple. There was a housing shortage, especially for young families and new workers settling in the area, so the cheapest solution was to allow these people to dig their own homes in the soft sandstone rocks, for the convenient price of only 8 pennies per rock wall.
You’d think that they carved for years on end, but you might be influenced in that assumption by Faria and Dantès digging tunnels for years on end in the limestone rocks of Chateau d’If. The “Long Stones” of Langenstein are sandstone, a much softer sedimentary rock made of compressed sand grains. Apparently not that hard to break. Equipped with pick axes, hammers and chisels, they actually managed to dig out a mini-apartment in only 2-5 months.
The idea might not have been totally spontaneous, though. The old Altenburg castle (12th c.) on top of the hill had also been carved in the soft sandstone. After its destruction in the 17th century, some remains were transformed into rock houses. On Altenburg hill you can find the oldest cave dwelling in Langenstein, inaugurated in 1787, inhabited until 1916:
Human for scale, not actual troglodyte.
The last cave dweller, a Mr. Karl Rindert, who refused to move out until his death in 1916, saying that up here he was a tiny bit closer to God.
On the other side of the town, on Sheep Hill / Schäferberg, there is a row of better-looking (albeit much smaller) cave houses, some of which have been fully restored and refurnished, to give us a sense of what living there would have been, and they can be visited, like an open-air anthropological museum.
Livingroom
Children’s room
Sleeping alcove next to the hearth and “kitchen“
These hole-houses are newer, from the mid-19th century, and have been inhabited until 1910. After that, the cave spaces were still used as natural cellars or even as stables for animals.
You might think living in a cave is a damp and cold experience, and that can be of course true for underground caves, but these ones had openings outside - at least one door, and another one as chimney further in the back, where the cooking hearth was placed (see photo below). This created a natural air flow in the space (which did not have any other room separations) and kept the air surprisingly dry and good. At least that’s what a local newspaper writes in the year 1889. We found them quite chilly and gloomy.
Fun fact: in order to keep their house tops free of bushes and trees that could damage the structure of the stone and cause cave-ins, the locals used sheep and goats which gladly grazed on the roofs. This promptly brought the mocking rhyme “In Langenstein, in Langenstein, da schieten de Schaape in Schornstien rein!“, meaning “In Langenstein, in Langenstein, where sheep shit down the chimney line.”
The cave dwellings (Höhlenwohnungen) in Langenstein are 7 km south from Halberstadt, in the Saxony-Anhalt part of Harz.
Check out the slideshow below for more photos from the cave dwellings (Höhlenwohnungen) in Langenstein.
Or just hit the photo gallery and see them larger.
More from Harz:
