Thomas Striebel: Artificial Cavities in the Area of the Topographic Map 1:25000 No. 6035 Bayreuth - Part 1

In the area of the town of Bayreuth and its surroundings, artificial cavities are very common. The presence of several sandstone stratas (mainly Upper Triassic) animated the people to construct numerous cellar caves. In this paper, 47 artificial cavities are mentioned, some of them are described in detail. 42 of the cavities can be classified as cellar caves or cellar cave systems (some of them only in parts or questionable) with total lengths between smaller than 5 m and more than 3000 m. The reasons for the people to construct such extended systems (the sum of the length of the Bayreuth cellar caves might be more than 15 km) are still in discussion. The most important reason can be found in the brewery trade which was very common in the town. The oldest document of existing cellars is from the mid of the 18th century, thus not very old; cellar caves had been constructed or extended until the beginning of the 20th century. - The cavity with the greatest extension is not typical for most of the artificial cavities: it is a subterranean gypsum quarry (Middle Triassic, ca. 30 km in length).