Zwiesel's mysterious underground chambers

[@adskn]

Delighted to see Zwiesel on screen. I have a cupboard full of Schott Zwiesel wine glasses, which are great as they are unusual for crystal glasses as you can put them through the dishwasher without any damage.

[@fmhummel]

Quartz is actually found almost everywhere. That towns in the Bavarian forest became famous for glass production was rather the abundance of wood - both for firing the kilns as well as for the ash used as flux in glass production. In all of eastern Bavaria glass production was established in the middle ages to quickly deforest areas and make them ready for agriculture.

[@TheNerubin]

Never heard of an Erdstall. Quite the intriguing mystery. Thanks :-)

[@herb6677]

these erdstalls look like prisons to me

[@varana]

@@herb6677 Unfortunately, there was no reason to have several laboriously built prisons in a very remote village in the High Middle Ages.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

One has to think about what people would need self-climatised underground rooms with hardly accessible entrances need for. I could think of storage rooms for perishable food, or maybe mushroom farms.

[@TheYoutubeUser69]

they were most likely also hiding places for when someone came round looting your shit(again)@@HappyBeezerStudios

[@muadddib]

​@@HappyBeezerStudiosi kind of love the idea that everyone from the Czechs to Spain got so much into mushroom farming in 900 that they just dug these ridiculous holes and just forgot after a while

[@tomskithompson7499]

I've been to Zwiesel two years ago. It is a nice little town and prefect for hiking tours. It borders on the bavarian forest national park with its visitor-centers and the railway brings you from Zwiesel also to other nice hiking sites. I'd love to visit it once again - but yes, there are only few shops and restaurants.

[@herraz9991]

yo mr.rewboss! Zwiesel is my hometown and i still live here today but our townplace is kinda dead since 15-20 years now. this makes me mad every time i drive trough. i miss the good old times with toy stores, classic bavarian restaurants and vhs stores. that was my childhood but sadly nothing existing anymore today. i hope your hometown is more stable my friend

[@jdu7729]

Jahre lang wohne ich in der Nähe von Aschaffenburg. Kaum ziehe ich nach Regensburg kommt Rewboss auch in die Gegend.

[@nickbarber2080]

My first girlfriend came from Zwiesel...well,Frauenau actually...and her brother worked in the glassworks.Part of his payment was in beer... I'm glad to see the railway still runs...when I was there in 1990 it was on its last legs and people said it was probably going to close.

[@obwohl]

Wieder ein sehr interessantes Video. Mir gefällt deine Schnitttechnik und die Länge der Videos :) Grüße aus Berlin

[@euansmith3699]

Wow! That wineglass pyramid looks cool.

[@Bayerwaldler]

In our little town of Furth im Wald at the northwest end of the Bavarian forest we also have „Schratzelgänge“ and Erdställe. The most interesting time for a visit is probably during August when we have our traditional „Drachenstich“ festivities.

[@franzsauer-yq4hc]

I like this older guy called alfred. Hes nice guy from lower bavaria🙌🏽

[@jolotschka]

Wieder etwas dazugelernt 😊. Hatte Zwiesel nur mit bairischem Wald und Glasbläserei verbunden 😊

[@herb6677]

Very well crafted vid as always, quite interesting. I also prefer to go to lesser known places in Europe, When I told my friends in Austria, that I am going to visit the Rhön, nobody knew what to make of it. Some had heard the terminus somewhere - well, I have been there and I liked it very much. Although there are not so many mysterious things there to see.

[@MrSpirit99]

I never heard of Zwiesel. Very interesting. I have heard of Erdställe tho.

[@kapitanleutnantschneider2076]

I have to say I'm actually really happy to have found your channel sir. I have finally found the Chris Broad of Germany.

[@kosinusify]

Cool video, this kind of gave me The Tim Traveller vibes, one of my favourite channels!

[@markwoolley3672]

I'm in Zwiesel regularly since we've owned a holiday flat "Grenzenblick" almost directly on the border in Bayerisch Eisenstein (available for rent :at decent prices:-) ) for several years, but I've never been on the underground tour . I've walked past the entrance many times, but it's never got to the to of my list of things to do, as we're either skiing or hiking in the area. Have to make an effort to go and see it!

[@123456789987o]

Jeremy Corbyn now doing underground tours is pretty amazing

[@hutti]

I live only a few kilometers away from Zwiesel. Here are also many Erdställe, one of them actually in my village. In the next village there's one under an inn, we visited that when i was a kid. It's kind of normal here but noone knows what these tunnels were for

[@hanshartfiel6394]

There is or used to be a Schullandheim where I and my class mates spend a week back in about 1961 or 62. We weren't told about the underground chambers.

[@kaengurus.sind.genossen]

Probably the teacher knew you would try to get in there ;)

[@holygooff]

I remember we were on vacation in the Bayerischem Wald when I was a teenager. We actually stopped in Zwiesel and I remember I ate a pizza. We didn't visit these tunnels though. How sad :(

[@slayjae]

Me and my brother stopped over there on our way to Bayerisch Eistenstein just to eat pizza as well hahaha. It's a quaint little town but not much to do there, if only we had known about those underground tunnels then! They got good pizza though

[@slayjae]

Dang, I've been to Zwiesel in the past but I had no idea about this!

[@danielp157]

Very interesting! I like your videos! Reminds me a bit of "The Tim Traveller" :)

[@huawafabe]

Oh interesting to see my neighbour town in one of your videos 😆sad I didn't see you to say hello :)

[@Jules_Diplopia]

What a lovely little town. Such a shame that modern living is slowly strangling it. Hope it does better.

[@prnzssLuna]

2:40 haha, that's just a normal hiking path in the bavarian forest. they get pretty overgrown. I hope you checked for ticks after that, they're dangerous!

[@gerryphilly53]

What a fascinating place! Thanks for introducing it to me.

[@liamtahaney713]

Looks like a nice place. Maybe ill take a day trip put from Munich when i visit in November

[@56independent42]

i never knew German could be such a beautiful language.

[@lennat24]

Dang'sche

[@oliphant2848]

The man had a strong Bavarian accent. Maybe you haven't heard this particular accent before. I (German) quite like it too.

[@franzsauer-yq4hc]

💙🤍💙🤍

[@prnzssLuna]

@@oliphant2848 If you think this guy has a strong accenc (or rather, is speaking in dialect), then you haven't heard many bavarians talking :D Half his words are regular words

[@oliphant2848]

@@prnzssLunaWell, I'm German, so I know. But his accent was not exactly weak if it can be picked out by viewers who don't understand German.

[@brucequinn]

Rewboss in fine form! While Zweisel is in Germany, it’s also due north of Salzburg and almost a stone’s throw from the Czech border.

[@Fireprincess161]

"... yielding among other things alum, iron ore, vitriol and quarts." "... after all, Zwiesel's history has been quite violent..." Sooo... when they say vitriol do they mean a rock or is this a dig at them?

[@hypatian9093]

Thanks for the video - seems to be a nice place to visit :)

[@MegaCooliam]

I love your channel!

[@MegaBanane9]

Amazing, you went to a place that I've actually been to on a vacation :D

[@phantomasque1102]

As far as I'm aware, the steep increase in gas prices is slowly forcing the glass manufacturers in that area to close their doors.

[@elephantcastle5110]

Only have the glasses, didn't even know where Zwiesel was

[@RTSFan1337]

I was there a few times but never got to make a tour through the chambers

[@Old_Shatterhans]

saucool

[@PlittHD]

6:20 These are the areas of Germany that could thrive from building a university or similar higher educational place. Cheap housing for the students. A couple cycle lanes here improve the public transport there. Suddenly jobs are created not only for professors or teachers but also with activities the students want to do in the evening and weekends.

[@TheWampam]

The problem is of course, that you first have to get the students, scientists etc. to go there, as there aren't enough coming from those areas. So you somehow have to pull those well educated people to remote areas, that at least at the beginning will be severly lacking in sufficient homes, entertainment, possbile future employers etc.

[@prnzssLuna]

There's a universtiy less than 30km away in Deggendorf

[@spacedog_80]

There are much more attractive universities in this area in Regensburg, Straubing, Deggendorf and Passau. I don't think Zwiesel will offer a better alternative for young people.

[@LS-Moto]

May I just say, that I enjoy these videos recorded outdoors

[@oldtechnobodycaresabout]

Reminds me of the Grotto in Margate, nobody knows why it exists

[@CaesarIII]

Sounds like those were jails for people to work down there and get their products up through those gaps in return to food and water or something like this. Am also guessing haha

[@varana]

TBH, you could get that much easier than dig deep into the rock. Just chain them somewhere practical, if you must. And without windows, they would've needed constant artificial lighting so the inmates could produce anything - which was complicated and expensive. Lastly, there wasn't really any need for _several_ of these things in a very remote village during the High Middle Ages. It's an explanation, but it creates at least as many questions as it solves.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@varanaMaybe that was where they hid their treasures, just in case some lord comes through with his army. "Oh, no. We don't have any food, you can check our houses if you want, there is nothing"

[@simontrickfilmer]

probaby a storageroom for beer. Through the hole they let Ice falling down in the winter.

[@rewboss]

Right, but that hole was originally the only way in or out. So how do they get the beer out again?

[@qugart.]

Huh...although living quite near Zwiesel (but far enough) I never heared of those caverns. It's like with all the Bavarian Forest. The region is nice. But the people...😁

[@oliphant2848]

The distribution of erdstalls you mentioned (Bavaria, Czechia, Spain, France, Britain) sounds awfully Celtic. Might they be underground secret temples built when the ancestral religion came under pressure from Christianity?

[@lennat24]

I think the "Erdstall" could be a retreat for the citizen of Zwiesel in past centuries in case of city attacks or natural desasters. Why putting so much effort in building such "Erdstalls" if not for savety reasons?

[@rewboss]

The problem with that theory is that the only entrance is that one tiny hole. People who are old, sick, injured, or pregnant can't get in. And it would be far too easy for enemy soldiers to trap you inside, or for your only exit to be blocked by landslides or fire.

[@merzto]

​@@rewbossthough a small entrance can be easily hidden

[@lennat24]

@@rewboss You're right. It could not have served as a retreat for the entire population. Maybe there was something interesting to mine. Nobody bothers to hollow out the mountain for nothing...

[@rewboss]

@@lennat24 You can barely get a person out of the chamber. How are you going to get rocks out?

[@lennat24]

@@rewboss Right, too. Maybe the whole thing just started as an experiment and then got bigger and bigger. Unless there was another unknown exit that was larger, people probably made do with the small hole. We all know things that were planned as small experiments and then turned into big things. Whatever they did, the small hole probably didn't hinder they - or there was another exit that was later closed and couldn't be find until today.

[@Sporadic_Si]

I'd be happy to move there tomorrow !!! But alas 90 days on and off wont do. Damn Brexit.

[@abgekippt]

"Briton gets lost through hiking app, found in south-east Germany." 📰

[@arnodobler1096]

Ohne Zwiesel kein guter Wein - Weingläser Bordeaux wäre Fußes Fusel korrigiert

[@michaelburggraf2822]

... ich vermute kühn, dass der Fuß ein Fusel sein soll. Bingo: meine probiert's auch 🤣

[@arnodobler1096]

@@michaelburggraf2822 haha ja 🐵🤣

[@joshwalley9864]

I thought that guy you interviewed had quite a Scottish sounding accent 😂

[@robertsabharwal9787]

Same here!

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Must be the nature of high elevantions.

[@theuncalledfor]

A train every hour? That sounds like awful connectivity, no wonder no one wants to live there.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Yep. If that were on the end of 1 of the Australian country lines the 1 train a week would stop the rats from escaping! 😜🤣🤣

[@Nils.Minimalist]

Maybe not even the homeless 😂

[@soundscape26]

Probably adjusted to the demand.

[@theuncalledfor]

@@theoztreecrasher2647 Australia has trains?!

[@oliphant2848]

That's not too bad, standard really. There are towns larger than this in Germany that have no trains at all.

[@robertsabharwal9787]

Is Alfred speaking standard German or a Bavarian dialect?

[@michaelburggraf2822]

It's mainly standard German with a Bavarian accent.

[@christiankastorf4836]

Bavaria is big and due to its long history of expansion has consisted of many areas that do not fulfill the typical expectations when it comes to the question what is "Bavarian". You can grossly distinguish between "Upper Bavaria" in and along the Alps, there is "Lower Bavaria" and "Upper Palatinate" (where we are here in this video), there is "Franconia" around Nuremberg and Würzburg and "Swabia" where Bavaria meets Württemberg in the west. All those southern accents are marked by a rolling "r" (like in Scottish English) and a tendency to darker vowels.

[@michaelburggraf2822]

@@christiankastorf4836 ok, but the typical dialect spoken in Zwiesel would sound a bit different ?

[@christiankastorf4836]

@@michaelburggraf2822 No, I have no doubts about that. But it is not that archtypical, guttural Upper-Bavarian that 90% of Germans can only understand when it gets subtitled.

[@markwoolley3672]

He's speaking pretty decent hochdeutsch in the video, but he does have a bit of an accent . I'm sure he's making the effort to be understood - the local dialect can be very difficult to understand if you are not used to it. I moved to Munich from England in 1998 and have learnt quite a bit of the Oberbayerisch dialect from colleagues , but had to relearn a different dialect to speak with locals around Bayerische Eisenstein (hinter'n Woid...) where we've had a holiday flat for several years.

[@Nils.Minimalist]

A 'Stall' is actually built for horses but what the hell is an 'Erdstall' supposed to be? What a strange name... bavarians or lets say the southern german hill people are really weird 😂

[@rewboss]

"Erdstall" actually means "Erd-Stollen". It's now the technical term, but originally comes from Lower Austrian. The Bavarian term is "Schratzlloch", from "Schratzl" = "little dwarf".

[@omma911]

Don't let Graham Hancock see this.