When around June 11, 1868 - the exact date is not known - a railway worker dropped his hammer into a narrow crack in the rock on the southern slope of the Sonderhorstberg in Grünertal, that was the starting signal for one of the most breathtaking cave discoveries in Germany. The ‘Dechenhöhle’ was discovered! The Dechenhöhle (Engl.: Dechen Cave) is located in Letmathe- Iserlohn, Germany, and is famous for its extraordinary wealth of stalactites and its prehistoric animal finds. Stalagmites and stalactites, delicate stone curtains, stalactite columns and glittering crystals in clear pools of water, that accompany your path. Like many caves of its kind, the Dechenhöhle is the result of limestone formation that took place here on the sea bed around 380 million years ago. It was only much later, around 800,000 years ago, that the actual Dechenhöhle was created. A warm period caused the limestone to dissolve into the groundwater. Through a tunnel-like, low corridor called the glacier grotto (German: Gletschergrotte), you reach the elongated arcade, which has incredibly delicate stalactite columns and sintered curtains. From there, a tunnel leads west to the Organ-Grotto (German: Orgelgrotte), whose western aisle boundary is decorated with the organ's lush stalactite cascades. Caves in Central Europe are only visited by a few animal species. Darkness, high humidity and a constant temperature of 8-10 °C is for the most quite a challenge. The powerful silence, and the breathtaking darkness, when the lights were turned off, was more than an awakening experiences. How in this moment your senses reboot to the basics, highly alerted…breathtaking! With this, warmest and sincerest thanks to the Dechenhoehle-Team, as well as to the Best Cave Guide ever, for allowing me and my camera to absorb Everything possible in a incredible private tour!