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2026-04-02The Rheinfels mine galleries
Take a torch. This is not optional advice.
The countermine system at Rheinfels is the single most interesting thing in the gorge and it is presented with almost no interpretation. Sections are lit; sections are not; the transition is unmarked and abrupt.
The galleries were cut so that a besieger who had taken the outer glacis would be standing on top of chambers packed with powder. The lower level is low enough to require a stoop for long stretches, and there is standing water after rain.
I measured nothing and would not trust the published lengths. What is clear on the ground is that the system was extended at least twice, because the section profiles change: the earlier galleries are narrower and more roughly cut.