INSCRIPTIONS OF SOME HISTORICALLY KNOWN PERSONS
IN POSTOJNSKA JAMA
PODPISI NEKATERIH ZNANIH ZGODOVINSKIH OSEBNOSTI
V POSTOJNSKI JAMI
Stephan KEMPE1 & Hans-Peter HUBRICH1
Abstract	UDC 551.435.84:003.071(497.471)
Stephan Kempe & Hans-Peter Hubrich: Inscriptions of some historically known persons in Postojnska jama
Imenski rov (Rov starih podpisov), the Old Cave (Stara jama), was the only part of Postojnska jama known for several centuries until 1818 when Luka Čeč discovered the access to the inner parts of the cave. Here we documented ca. 400 inscriptions. About 100 more were also recorded in the historic part of Pred-jama Cave. From these signatures we correlated 19 with independently historically known persons, less than 5% of the total. The correlation is firm for 15 names, but only tentative for Bellegarde, Kotze, Mihanovic and Karl von Zur. The oldest one is that of Johann Melchior Ott(o) of 1642, a painter in the service of Johann Anton zu Eggenberg (1610-1649) the owner of the Castle of Adelsberg at the time, whose coat of arms Ott drew as well. The next oldest is the name Josef Anton Nagel 1748 who also left Latin inscriptions in Predjama cave and in Sloup Cavern, Moravia. All other inscriptions of historic persons are younger than 1800 including those of Franz Graf von Hohenwart, Joseph Petsch Ritter von Löwengreif and Alois Schaffenrath (each with several inscriptions). Noteworthy are also the signatures of Josef Franz Eggenhöfner (1801 or 1809, and 1820; developer of Grotta di Padriciano), Johann Natterer (biologist, 1815, who stayed 19 years in Brazil and laid the basis of the zoological department of the Natural History Museum in Vienna), Karl Beyrich (1819, botanist who died during an expedition in Arkansas, 1834), Giuseppe de Volpi (1820, from Trieste who published first evidence of the cave bear presence in Postojnska jama), Johann Fercher, mine supervisor, and his team of miners from Idrija who signed during their survey of the cave in 1833, Johann Ritter von Hauer (1836 in Pisani rov, Vienna, Imperial Councelor of War and Palaeontologist), Ivan Andrej Perko (the later director of the cave) and several cave guides. Members of the nobility or state employees include Bellegard, Adrienne Brandis Desenf-fans and her brother Karl Graf Desenffans, Carl von Kotze, and Mihanovic.
Keywords: Postojnska jama, Imenski rov (Rov starih podpisov), Predjama, inscriptions, historic persons.
Izvleček	UDK 551.435.84:003.071(497.471)
Stephan Kempe & Hans-Peter Hubrich: Podpisi nekaterih znanih zgodovinskih osebnosti v Postojnski jami
Imenski rov oz. Rov starih podpisov, je edini del Postojnske jame, ki je bil poznan pred odkritjem notranjih delov leta 1818. Članek opisuje dokumentiranje približno 400 starih podpisov iz Postojnske jame in100 podpisov iz Predjame. Približno 19 podpisov, kar je manj kot 5% vseh, pripada znanim zgodovinskim osebnostim. Od teh je zanesljivih 15, medtem ko je identiteta podpisnikov Bellegarde, Kotze, Mihanovc in Karl von Zur vprašljiva. Najstarejši znani podpisnik je Johan Melchior Ott(o), slikar, ki je služil Johanu Antonu Eggenberškemu (1610-1649), takratnemu lastniku postojnskega gradu. Temu je Ott narisal tudi grb. Drugi najstarejši je podpis Jožefa Antona Nagla iz leta 1748, ki je v latinščini podpisan tudi v Pred-jami in v Sloupski jami na Moravškem. Vsi drugi podpisi znanih osebnosti so mlajši od leta 1800, med njimi tudi podpisi Franca Jožefa Hohenwarta, Josipa Jeršinoviča plemenitega Löwengreifa in Alojza Shaffenratha. Vsi od slednjih so se podpisali večkrat. Omembe vredni so tudi podpisi Josefa Eggen-höffnerja, ki je za turizem uredil vhodni del Pečine na Hudem letu pri Padričah, Johanna Nattererja, biologa, ki je živel 19 let v Braziliji in postavil temelje zoološkega oddelka v dunajskem Naravoslovnem muzeju, Karla Beyricha (podpis iz leta 1819), botanika, ki je leta 1834 umrl med odpravo v Arkansasu, Tržačana Giuseppeja del Volpija (podpis iz leta 1820), ki je prvi objavil dokaze o prisotnosti jamskega medveda v Postojnski jami, Johana Fercherja, rudniškega nadzornika, ki se je z ekipo idrijskih rudarjev podpisal med merjenjem jame leta 1833, Johanna Ritterja von Hauerja (podpisal se je leta 1836 v Pisanem rovu) vojnega svetovalca Imperija in paleontologa iz Dunaja in večih jamskih vodnikov. Podpisani so tudi različni pripadniki plemstva in državni uslužbenci, med drugim Bellegarde, Adri-enne Brandis Deseffans in njen brat Karl Graf Desenffans, Carl von Kotze in Mihanovic.
Ključne besede: Postojnska jama, Rov starih podpisov, sPred-jama, podpisi, zgodovinske osebnosti.
1 Institute for Applied Geosciences, University of Technology Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstr. 9, D-64287 Darmstadt, Germany,
e-maüs: kempe@geo.tu-darmstadt.de, hubrich@geo.tu-darmstadt.de Received/Prejeto: 13.5.2008
INTRODUCTION
With more than 10.000 caves on register, Slovenia represents one of the European regions with the highest cave density. Two cave systems, that have attracted historically large numbers of visitors, are Postojnska jama and Predjama. They play a prominent role in the early history of speleology (e.g., Shaw 1992). There, several hundred visitors have documented their presence over the last five centuries by inscribing their name and date of visit on the cave walls. In addition we find many initials, some short prayers and, more rarely, coat of arms, small sketches or short texts. Because of the varying shape and quality of the cave walls and its flowstone cover inscriptions occur in groups that we termed panels (for an example see Fig. 1). Sometimes an explorer might have inscribed himself to document that he was the first to reach this point but most often inscriptions were placed where other people had already left their token, a human habit not unlike to "territorial marking" practiced by many quadrupeds ^
Fig. 1: Flowstone-framed detail of Panel 12 of the Imenski rov, Postojnska jama with inscriptions of "Ottilenfeld 1814, "Cor-rada", "Franz Himer", "Johann Melchior Ott" associated with the coat of arms of Eggenberg and with "Johan Paul Sarcher 1642 den 6. luni" among others (for scale: Hans-Peter Hubrich).
Postojnska jama was known as "Adelsberger Grotte" until the end of the k.k. (Imperial-Royal) Austrian Monarchy. It has one of the longest traditions as a show cave world-wide. Its high attraction is, for example, documented by its entry into the Austrian National Encyclopaedia in 1835 (Vol. 1, 18ff, for text see Appendix). In the system, today explored to a total length of 20.57 km (Kranjc & Kempe 2007), we find many thousand inscriptions concentrated in the following passages: 1. in the old cave (Imenski rov (Rov starih podpisov), Name Cave or Old Cave, compare Kempe 2003 and Kempe et al. 2006b);
2.	along the main passage, specifically in the Congress Hall, around the big curtain, near the leaning column and in many other places (by number probably the most inscriptions);
3.	in the Vivarium Proteus (numerous inscriptions);
4.	near the entrance and end of Nemški rov (few inscriptions; compare Kempe et al. 2006a);
5.	in Pisani rov (Erzherzog Johann Grotto; mostly on one stalagmite; compare Kempe et al. 2004);
6.	on a block at the apex of the Calvary;
7.	at the entrance of the Tartarus (limited to one panel; compare Kempe 2005);
8.	in the Male jama (mostly at both ends); and
9.	in Črna jama.
Most of the inscriptions postdate the discovery of the main passage of Postojnska jama in 1818, older inscriptions can therefore only befound in Imenski rov and in Črna jama. Those in Črna jama are, however, almost illegible due the pronounced weathering caused by seasonal exchange of air, while those in Imenski rov are mostly preserved beautifully. Due to its easy accessibility, this passage was visited early on. Hohenwart (1830, 1832a, 1832b) and Volpi (1821) published copperplates with inscriptions copied by Schaffenrath from the Imenski rov. There the oldest date given is 1213. However, in our photographic documentation of the entire Imenski rov and its 17 panels conducted in February 2007, we were not able to relocate this inscription and nobody else apparently knows where to find it. Due to the fact that Schaffenrath copied Arabic numerals, it is doubtful that this inscription is from that time, since in the 13'h century most dates were written with Roman numerals. Most probably Schaffenrath simply misread the date, with 1575 as a possible alternative. The oldest clearly readable date that we found in our survey was 1412. But even this date is of questionable authenticity because of the type of numerals used. In 1412 the Arabic "4" should have been written as the upper half of an "8".
Predjama cave was known as "Lueger Höhle" originally. Its southernmost entrances are situated just below the castle of Lueg, today Predjamski grad. It is open in the summer for visitors as a through-trip, while in winter only the lower passage up to Velika dvorana (the Large Hall) is accessible in order to protect the local bat colonies from disturbances. Here, in February 2007, we documented about 100 inscriptions in 22 panels. The best known inscription in Predjama is that of Joseph Anton Nagel made in 1748 (Kempe et al. 2006b).
Here we will discuss 19 signatures mostly from Imenski rov that can be related to persons that are also
known from other historic sources. This is just a first analysis, concentrating specifically on the older signatures and on German language sources.
THE INSCRIPTIONS
The nature of the inscriptions investigated varies widely. The following elements may be present: Initials, family name, Christian name or name and title of a profession, military grade or unit designation, town of residence or place of birth, year, precise date, Christus monogram or combination of initials with the latter, crosses or other religious signs or short prayers, coat of arms, union sign of craft, and additions of all sorts in German, Slavic languages, French, English, Italian, Latin and possibly Greek.
The majority of the inscriptions are written with Latin letters with variant "Antiqua-Kursive", few with Latin block letters and one (Zur) in German Current, a form of handwriting with letters much different from those of the familiar Latin letters. Current (or the more advanced Süt-terlin script) was in use throughout the German-speaking world for official documents as well as private correspondence until forbidden by Hitler in 1941.
Deciphering short texts can be a difficult task, in addition to obstacles such as bad handwriting or the use of inadequate writing material across rough cave walls. Some inscriptions also suffer from later obliteration by
overwriting, smearing or by the diffusion of color, from fading or the encrustation of later flowstone deposits. Sometimes the same name occurs both in Latin and in Current lettering and in a few cases calligraphic approaches are apparent. Frames around inscriptions and flourishes are another feature sometimes noted. Specifically descending wavy lines or extensions of the last letter were fashionable. These remind of the calligraphic signatures under documents. Sometimes also isolated and cryptic subscripts were used that may represent initials or abbreviations of names.
We only found dates (day, month, year) in Arabic numerals in the manner of what is called "Dürer" or younger. The version "Dürer" came into use beginning with the 16*^ century in Germany and most probably also in Austria. No date recorded in Latin numerals was noticed.
Also the writing material varied widely, charcoal, red crayon (Rötel), metal pencil (lead, tin or silver), graphite pencil, copy pencil or the soot of an open flame were used. Inscriptions by scratching are rare, some were noticed in Imenski rov on panels 5, 13 and 17.
NOTEWORTHY PERSONS
Some of the inscriptions can be correlated with "noteworthy persons", a term used by Wurzbach (1856-1891) to designate persons that are of historic importance. In our context this would be persons related to the history of speleology in general or more specifically to the history of Postojnska jama and Predjama.
For other names we sometimes found persons of the same name in the literature but with living dates that
did not match the inscription. Sometimes names without dates or without first names also make it difficult to pinpoint a specific person unless his profession or the geographical context suggested that he in fact visited the cave. Another difficulty is posed by common names with thousands of bearers while rare names can be more easily correlated with a specific person.
INSCRIPTIONS OF HISTORICALLY KNOWN PERSONS IN ALPHABETIC ORDER
BELLEGARDE The family of Bellegarde originated in the Netherlands and later settled in Savoy. Several persons of this family name served in state offices, were honoured as heroes of war or earned renown as scientists. On Panel 10 in Imenski rov a Bellegarde left his name together with "Plattich" and a third person, now illegible, in 1817 (Fig. 2). It is possible that this Bellegard was perhaps Friedrich Heinrich Graf (Count) von Bellegarde who lived from 1769
Fig. 2: four-line inscription in Panel 10, Imenski rov, reading "Bellegarde / fähnrich (?) / Plattich (?) /1817"; charcoal pen.
to 1845. Between 1815 and 1825 he lived as a privateer and did not hold a state office, i.e. he could have had the time to visit the cave. On the other hand the second line could read "Fähnrich" (i.e., an ensign) and then it would be more likely that the visitor was one of his sons, Graf August (born 1795) or Graf Heinrich (born 1798). They could have been on leave from the army as young officers
after the end of the Napoleonic wars (Wurzbach 1856, Vol. 1: 243 ff).
BEYRICH
"Beyrich" left his name in both caves (Figs. 3 & 4). The initial (C. for Carl or Karl) and the mentioning of his hometown "Wernigerode" identify him as Heinrich Karl Beyrich, born March 22nd, 1796, in Wernigerode/Harz. He was a known botanist and scientific traveller who undertook extensive excursions in the Eastern Alps and in Upper Italy beginning in 1819. The overwritten year may therefore be 1819. The "Beyrich" inscription in Pred-jama stands by itself and was written differently than in Imenski rov. The initial "B" is set in block letters, which may be understandable, but the final "h" is different in the two names. Possibly an unknown companion wrote the second signature for him. In any case is Beyrich one of the few (the others are Nagel and Schaffenrath) that left his name in both of the caves. Beyrich was employed as gardener in Tübingen, Vienna, Bruck an der Leitha, and visited Kew Gardens, England. On recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt, who became aware of the young man in Paris, 1819, he travelled to Brazil and then participated in an expedition to North America, where he died June 22nd, 1834, in Arkansas, of a lethal gall-bladder inflammation (Jacobs 1875). His scientific work is not well published and it certainly would be rewarding to do more research on his biography. Since he cannot have visited the cave before 1819, he possibly may also have seen the newly discovered main passage. If his diaries should be kept in some archive, it would be interesting to see what he wrote about his impression about the newly discovered cave sections. Since he was born in the Harz Mountains he most probably also knew the Baumann's
fig. 3: Three-line inscription in Panel 13, Imenski rov, reading "C. Beyrich / Wernigerode / 18XX (overwritten); pencil.
Fig. 4: One-line inscription in Panel 9A, Predjama, reading "Beyrich"; charcoal.
Cave, the other cave of long-standing touristic and scientific interest in Europe (Kempe et al. 2004). Beyrich was, after Natterer, the second most "travelled" scientist whose signature we found.
ČEČ
In the region of Cicerei (Čičarija) between Crain and Istria the family name Čeč and Čič are very common (Radics 1861), with and without Caron (the inverted circumflex). In Postojnska jama several inscriptions of members of the Čeč family can be traced. Lukas Čeč is specifically famous, because he was the actual discoverer of the entrance to the main passage of Postojnska jama in 1818 (Habe 1968). His inscription has, however, not yet appeared and it is well possible that he was analphabetic. Several other "Čečs" served as "jamski vodnik" -cave guides, among them Alois Čeč (Figs. 5 & 6) who
Handbuch des Adels 1953). Adrienne and her brother visited Postojnska jama January 4*^, 1833, and left both of their names (Fig. 7). Adrienne's inscription is somewhat fainter than that of her brother's, suggesting that each of them wrote their names themselves, even though the letters are very similar, suggesting their close kinship. Since Adrienne married already in 1831, she signed both with the name of her husband (Brandis) and with her maiden name (Desenffans). Her inscription is the earliest of a woman with her full name in Postojnska jama yet identified (in Predjama we found the signature of a "Catha-rina Senensis Widmayerin 21 Juni 1765", predating that of Adrienne; see Kempe et al. 2006c).
EGGENHÖFNER Josef Franz Eggenhöfner inscribed himself twice in Imenski rov (Figs. 8 & 9), once in 1801 (or 1809) before the
Fig. 5: Three-line inscription in Panel 11, Imenski rov, reading "čeč/ Alois 1913 /Postojna"; charcoal pen, first name underlined. He inscribed his name below a much older (1587) and above the inscription of "Joh. Natterer" (see Natterer). Later younger names (1929) were added below čečs name.
apparently served in the cave at the beginning of the 20'h century. His living dates are not known yet.
DESENFFANS D'AVERNAS The family of Desenffans derives from France, where the name originally was spelled "des Enfans", and settled via the Netherlands in Styria, Austria. Adrian Wilhelm Graf Desenffans (1771-1853) was k.k. "Imperial-Royal" Major and was honoured with the title Reichsgraf (Imperial Count) in 1805. Together with his wife, Caroline Countess Wilczek, he had two children. His son Karl Ferdinand Joseph (1811-1855) married 1842 Maria Countess von Brandis (1817-1899) and daughter Adrienne (1810-1834) married 1831 Clemens Graf von Brandis, the brother of Maria (Wurzbach 1858, Vol. 3: 250ff; Genealogisches
Fig. 6: Three-line inscription in Panel 17, Imenski rov, reading "AL čeč / jamski / vodnik"; block letters, graphite pencil.
Fig. 7: Five-line inscription in Panel 17 D, Imenski rov, reading "Adrienne Brandis Desenffans / 4 Jänner 1833 / Karl Graf Desenffans / D. Avernas /1833, similar in handwriting, but different in boldness, graphite pencil.
discovery of the inner parts of the cave and once after their discovery in 1820. In 1820 he inscribed himself also into the visitor book of the Adelsberger Grotte, from which we know that he visited the cave on 26'h or 27'h of September that year (Shaw 2000, 2007). Both, the visitor book signature and his inscription in the cave, are written in Latin and are very similar to the signature in the visitor book, except that the "h" is written slightly differently, illustrating the fact, that the cave wall is not inviting for fluently written script. Thus Eggenhöfner is the first one we can identify both in the visitor book and in the cave. It is also interesting to note that the earlier inscription was made with a charcoal pen as commonly used for sketching, while the graphite pencil became available only slightly later and was in common use from the beginning of the 1810's.
his lighting and prepared himself to die. Friends finally saved him. Furthermore he dared to swim "with the torrential river (Rekka) the entire cave and to gain knowledge of its entire inner character" underneath St. Canzian (Škocjanske jame). Thus, in 1820, he apparently was still interested in cave exploration and made the trip from Trieste to visit the newly discovered main passage of Postojnska jama but also made a stint into the old cave that he had already seen a decade or more earlier. The exact living dates of Eggenhöfner are not known yet, but he certainly was a man of note in early speleology.
FERCHER AND THE CAVE SURVEY TEAM OF 1833
In January and February 1833 Postojnska jama was surveyed thoroughly by a team of miners from the mercury
Fig. 8: Three-line inscription in Panel 17C, Imenski rov, reading "Jos^ franz / Eggenhöfner /1820"; graphite pencil.
fig. 9: Two-line inscription in Panel 10, Imenski rov, reading "1801 (or 1809) / J.F. Eggenhöfner"; charcoal pen.
Eggenhöfner is known to be an early "speleologist", who excavated and operated his own cave near Trieste, the Cave of Padriciano (Padrič Grotte; 400 m long and 290 m deep). His significance is recorded in the travel book published by Hoppe and Hornschuch (1818) and expanded in Hofmann-Montanus and Petritsch (1952). The two botanists, Hoppe and Hornschuch, during their visit in Istria in 1808, took quarter with Josef Eggenhöfner in Hundsberg near Trieste. Eggenhöfner guided them to one of the neighbouring caves where they could admire speleothems. The scientists described him as "a man of knowledge and with many abilities, among others in the field of hydraulic and mechanics". Eggenhöfner also reported about "his" cave and how he had made it accessible, equipped it with benches and chairs and how "robbery hands" had destroyed his efforts. Eggenhöfner must have been a courageous and risk-loving person: During the exploration of his own cave he could not climb back up a rope, burnt out
mine at Idrija, led by "Oberhutmann" (mine supervisor) Johann Fercher. The story of this first large cave survey is in part documented by letters exchanged between the Cave Commission at Postojna and the mine at Idrija. These five letters survived in the archive of the Karst Institute in Postojna. They were transcribed and translated by Kempe (2005) and Kempe et al. (2006b). Fercher left a large inscription on the panel at the entrance to the lower Tartarus (Fig. 10) noting all names of those miners active in the cave during the survey and a second inscription (Fig. 11) at the entrance of Pisani rov including the name of Aloys Urbas. At the same site Tracha (Troha in Slovenian language), a miner from Fercher's team, left his signature: "Traha Valentin / Zimmermann und Hauer in Idria / Zinnobersublimirer" (Valentin Traha, carpenter and hewer from Idrija, cinnabar sublimer"). Tracha also left an inscription on Panel 9 in Imenski rov reading similarly "Valentin Traha / Zimmermann und Hauer
zu Idria / bei der Vermessung der Grotte teilgenommen" (i.e. the last line reading "participated in the survey of the cave") (Kempe et al. 2006a). Nothing is known about Fercher or any other of the miners of his team from other
"Geheimrat" (Secret Privy Councilor) (the same title Goethe held in Weimar). After his retirement from state services he occupied himself with paleontological studies making new discoveries around Vienna and in Sieben-
Fig. 10: Seven-line inscription of the Tartarus Panel, Postojnska jama, reading "Bey Aufnahme der Grote den 7te" februar 1833 / Hr. Johann fercher / Hr. Urbas Aloys / Hr. valentino Tracha / Hr. Johann Wruss / Idrianer"; pencil (compare kempe 2005, for more details).
sources yet. Not even the archive at Idrija seems to have records of them. But due to the fact that he conducted the first professional survey of a very large cave system (world-wide) and that the "Fercher Map" was published by Schaffenrath 1834, he certainly is a "noteworthy person" in the history of speleology.
HAUER
The fact that Hauer was admitted into the gated Ferdinand's Grotto (today Pisani rov) in 1836, i.e. shortly after the back part of it had been opened to the public, being able to leave his signature there (Fig. 12) is proof of his high social standing. Several members of the family Hauer have in fact contributed to the advancement of knowledge about Postojnska jama. In the inscription it appears as if the initial "J." is integrated into the "H" of "Hauer". From this and the life dates of some of the Hauers we can conclude that the signature was left by Joseph Ritter von Hauer.
This "von Hauer" was the son of the Hofkriegsrat (Imperial Counselor of War) Karl Joseph von Hauer, born in Vienna 1778. He studied law at the University of Vienna until 1798 and then joined state services. In 1800 he was appointed County Commissary in Korneuburg near Vienna, in 1807 he became court secretary at the k.k. court chamber, 1812 Hofrat (Privy Councilor), 1821 "staatsrätlicher Referent" and in 1832 vice-president of the imperial court chamber. In 1836 he was appointed
Fig. 11: Three-line inscription, Pisani rov, 10 m from entrance, south wall, reading "Aufgenohmen im Monat / Jänner 1833 Johann Fercher /Aloys Urbas"; graphite pen, with calligraphic flourish after Urbas.
Fig. 12: Two-line inscription in the Pisani rov (after the passage become narrower and turns left at a large breakdown block) reading "Hauer / 6. May 1836"; charcoal pen.
bürgen (Romania). He is best known for the discovery of the foraminifera of the Vienna basin and was member of several geological societies. Von Hauer died 1863 in Vienna (Wurzbach 1862, Vol. 8, 59ff; Oesterreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1959, Vol. 2, p. 212).
HOHENWART Franz Josef Hannibal Graf von Hohenwart is probably the most prominent person in early Postojnska jama research. He wrote the first comprehensive guide of the cave publishing Alois Schaffenrath's remarkable paint-
ings from the interior of the cave as copper etchings and lithographs (Hohenwart 1830, 1832a, 1832b). So far we found his name three times in Postojnska jama: Once on the "Schaffenrath Column", in Pisani rov as "Hochenwart / Polgen (?) / 21. April 29" (see Kempe et al. 2004 for picture) and left his name in the last chamber (Panel 17, Imenski rov) of the Old Cave twice (Figs. 13 & 14). ttese inscriptions are undated; the last one may, if it has been written together with that of Krieschek, have been written in 1820. In all three cases Hohenwart spelled himself "Hochenwart", while in his publications he spelled himself without the "c".
Fig. 13: One-line inscription in Panel 17, Imenski rov, reading "Hochenwarth"; charcoal pen; inscription between the red crayon signatures of ^ Carl v. kotze and ^ Löwengreif 1813, but the names seem not to be in context. Four-line inscription in Panel 17, Imenski rov C, reading "1818 (?) / illegible / Carl v (?) Kotze / den 4 (?) July", red crayon.
Hohenwart is member of an old and quite famous noble family. Franz Graf von Hohenwart, born May 24'h, 1771 in Ljubljana, was son of Georg Graf von Hohenwart zu Gerlachstein and Raunach. Franz studied in Viena natural sciences, joined state service and was employed as Gubernialrat. In 1827 he was elected President of the Society for Agriculture in Ljubljana and stayed in this office of honor until 1834. Several of his speeches given there appeared in print. He started collections of geological and paleontological specimens which he donated to the Museum at Ljubljana that he promoted energetically so that he can be called his founding father. Due to his devotion to antiques, he saved many antiquities from destruction, preserving them for later studies. He also bequeathed 2000 fossil specimens to the Rheinische Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Mainz, Germany, with almost all genera listed by Lamarck. Franz supposedly did not excel in court manners but sometimes used bawdy language, making him unwelcome in certain cir-
cles. This may be the explanation why he spelled himself "Hochenwart" alluring to the fact that the "h" would be spoken as a "ch" locally. Franz Graf von Hohenwart died August 2nd, 1844, in Ljubljana (Wurzbach 1863, Vol. 9: 204ff; Oesterreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1959, Vol. 2: 395ff).
KOTZE
On Panel 17, Imenski rov, i.e. in the last chamber of the Old Cave, we find the red crayon signature of Carl (von?) Kotze, dated possibly July 4 (?), 1818 (?) (Fig. 13). He could belong to the noble family of "von Kotze" that is
W-
Fig. 14: One-line inscription in Panel 17, Imenski rov C, reading "Hochenwart" (top of the picture); charcoal pen or graphite pencil, possibly associated with Krieschek dated 1820.
on record (with varying spelling) since AD 1112 holding possessions in Saxony and Anhalt-Saxony (http:// de.wikipedia.org.wiki/Kotze). In the Genealogisches Taschenbuch des Uradels (1893) a Hans-Karl v. Kotze is recorded, born in 1795 and deceased in 1851 that would possibly fit the date in the cave.
LÖWENGREIF Joseph von Löwengreif left more signatures in Postojnska jama than anybody else. The authors counted at least
fourteen of them. Interestingly we did not note any in Predjama. As a "Creiss Cassier" (Kreiskassierer; County Clerk) and member of the Cave Commission he was certainly the one involved most in the administration and promotion of the development of Postojnska jama. Possibly he did not only visit the cave for exploration or to supervise work but also to guide high-ranking persons. Nevertheless no publications written by him are known to the authors.
His full name "Joseph Petsch (or Poetsch) Ritter von Löwengreif" never appears in the cave. tte most complete signature is found on Panel 9 (Fig. 15) reading "Jos. Ritter von Löwengreif". Normally he just signed as
scription No. 11, the youngest one dated, was apparently written by Schaffenrath (see Kempe et al. 2004).
Joseph Petsch (or Poetsch) Ritter von Löwengreif (1775-1844) is most probably the son of Ignatz Karl Petsch, Rittmeister in the Zweibrücken dragoon regiment, who was awarded with the title "von Löwengreif" in 1773. Löwengreif served as county clerk (Kreiskassierer) for Adelsberg and played a prominent role in the preparation of the visit of Franz I to the cave in 1816. Later he was the leading person in organizing the administration of the show cave and its improvements. However, he did not receive the acceptance he expected and was instead faced with critics so that he resigned from
Fig. 15: four-line inscription in Panel 9, Imenski rov, reading "1814 / Jos. Ritter / v. Löwengreif/ Creis Cassier"; red crayon.
Fig. 16: One-line inscription, Panel 8, Imenski rov, reading "Löwengreif", "g" with flourish; red crayon.
"Löwengreif" (for example see Fig. 16). Both differ in how the letters are written. In Tab. 1 the characteristics of the fourteen signatures are listed. Eleven of those are dated between 1813 and 1825, three do not carry dates. Twice Löwengreif spells himself with "ff". Other differences appear in the kind of the initial "L" and the "g". Twice Löwengreif's name is associated with the name "Zur" that is abbreviated to "Z" in another case. Inscription 9 poses a riddle where "Löwengreif" is followed by "Franz v." Since we do not have knowledge of a Franz v. Löwengreif, one of the possibilities could be that Löwengreif and Franz von Hohenwart or Franz von Zur were in the cave together and Löwengreif wanted to write "Franz v. Hohenwart or Franz v. Zur" when the red crayon was finished or when he was distracted and forgot finishing the task. Hohenwart, in his guide to the cave (1832b, p.18) comments that Löwengreif started to work in the cave in 1816. ttis is contradicted by the signatures of Löwengreif that begin already three years earlier.
Inscription 10 says that Löwengreif reached the Tartarus for the first time (see Kempe 2005) and the in-
the Cave Commission in 1823 (Wurzbach 1872, Vol. 24: 129). ttis, as the dated inscriptions of 1825 show, did, however, not prevent him for visiting the cave again.
In 1797 he visited with several officers the Magdale-nengrotte (at that time most probably the pit of Černa jama) and discovered in the water of the cave a white "Fischgestalt" (fish shape). ^ey managed to catch two specimens of the animal (the Proteus anguinus, LAU-RENTI (1768), mentioned already by Valvasor as a "young dragon" and by Nagel as "eye- and featherless duck") that so far was only known from lake Čirkniča and not from caves (Aljančič et al. 1993). ^is catch was forgotten until in 1814 Hohenwart met Löwengreif and realized that Proteus was a cave dweller and launched a more systematic search for the animal.
MIHANOVIC In Imenski rov, Panel 9, we find a five-line inscription in Latin language (the only one in Latin so far discovered in Postojnska jama). In 1822 two people signed: a lieutenant E. Mosbacher and a certain Mihanovic (Fig. 17). It is a pity that we cannot read his title or first name, since
Tab. 1 overview of Löwengreif signatures.
Inscription	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Fig.		15					
Location	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov
Panel	17C	9	11	4	14	17C	17C
Text	Löwengreif 1813	1814 Jos. Ritter v L^öwe^^i^e^ Ct^eis Cahsier	Löwengreif 1814	1815 Löwen gteiff	Löwen greif 1817	Löwengreiff 18^7	1817 Löwen greif Zur
Material	red crayon	red crayon	charcoal	charcoal	red crayon	red crayon	red crayon
Remarks	below Kotze a. Hochen-warth		flourish	double „f"		double „f"	L. a. Z. con-temporous?
Initial „L"	Latin inclined flourish	Latin, flourish	Latin, flourish	Latin, pronounced lower length	Latin flourish	Latin flourish, L with block	Latin block letters
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
				16		
Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Postojnska j.	Postojnska j.	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov
9	9	Tartarus	Pisani rov	8	17C	1
Joseph v Löwengi^eif 1817 Zur	v. Löwengreif Franz v. 1817	Löwengreif zum ErstenmaC 12. Mä^rz 1825	den 10. ??.1825 v.Löwengr^eif gospod^r^tsch Schaffenr^ath	Löwengreif	Löwengreif 18?? Z	B. v. Löwengreif
red crayon	red crayon	charcoal	charcoal	charcoal	pencil?	red crayon
L. a. Z contemporaneous? Joseph unclear	who is Franz? Is it ^Zur? pronounced „f"	next to Andre Perko	above Hochenwarth, calligraphic (?) ending	„g" with long underlength	pronounced „Z" of Zur, L. a. Z contemporaneous? pronounced "f"	
Block	Latin, flourish	Block	Latin, flourish, written by Schaffenrath	Latin, flourish	Latin, flourish	Latin, leaning, flourish
there is a quite famous Mihanovic for whom date and the geographical provenience could fit. This is Petropoljski
Antun Mihanovic, an author and diplomat. Born 1796 in Zagreb, Mihanovic finished his law studies in Vienna in 1817. He then served as an auditor in Venice and Padua and from 1823 to 1836 as "Gubernial"-secretary in Fiume. Thus Mihanovic was in the geographical region at the right time, he had the education to use Latin, and he was young enough to have been attracted by the adventure to visit the cave. He later became the first Austrian consul in Belgrade then was diplomat in Salonika, Trapezunt, Smyrna and Constantinople. Already dur-
Fig. 17: five-line inscription, Panel 9, Imenski rov, reading "Hic erant anno 1822 / den 24 Aug. / Lieut. E. Mosbacher (?) / et / XXX Mihanovic"; graphite pen. den 24 Aug. / Lieut. E. Mosbacer (?) / et / XXX Mihanovic"; graphite pen.
ing his studies he became interested in the philology of Balkan-languages about which he published, and, most of all, he became the author of the Croatian national anthem. Mihanovic died 1861 in Novi dvori near Klanjec in Croatia (Oesterreichisches Bibliographisches Lexikon 1975, Vol.6, p.278). However, there may be many namesakes that could have left their name as well.
to the one in Predjama, written in Latin language and reading: "NAGEL Mathematicus / 1748 / Iussu Impera-toris Francisci I / hanc cryptam perlustrabat" (i.e. Nagel, mathematician, 1748, on order of Imperator Franz I / has explored this grotto). In all three known signatures Nagel spelled his name with capital block letters and he has visited all of the caves in one year. tte authors are currently
Fig. 18: Two-line inscription, Panel 9, Imenski rov, reading "Müh-leysen / 1817"; red crayon.
MÜHLEYSEN Volpi (1821) reported that he obtained a cave bear skull (he called it "Palaeotherium", i.e. fossil animal) from "Herrn Distriktförster Mühleisen" (i.e. from Mister District Ranger Mühleisen). Obviously Mühleisen had access to the cave and had the authority to remove bones from the cave. He therefore most probably was the one who left his name in Imenski rov in 1817 (Fig. 18, with y instead i), one or two years before he found the bones in the newly discovered passages. The plate with the bones he gave Volpi is reproduced in Kempe et al. (2005).
NAGEL
Joseph Anton Nagel (1717, Rittberg, Westphalia - 1794, Vienna) (Wurzbach 1869, Vol. 20: 31ff) visited Slovenia in 1748 on order of Franz I (Franz I of the German Empire and husband of Maria-Theresia not Franz I of the Habsburgian Empire) to study the caves and other natural phenomena in the area. He left a long inscription in Pred-jama in Latin Language and a short one in the Imenski rov, Panel 1, reading "NAGEL / 1748 /19. Julii". We have summarized the biography of Nagel and his signatures in detail already (see Kempe et al. 2006b), so that we will not reproduce them here again. In the mean time a third signature of Nagel has been kindly brought to our attention by Rudolf Musil, Brno, from Sloop Cave (Fig. 19) that was visited by Nagel also. The signature is similar
Fig. 19: Four-line inscription in Sloup Cavern, Moravian Karst, reading "NAGEL Mathematicus /1748 / Iussu Imperatoris Fran-cisci I / hanc cryptam perlustrabat"; metal pencil.
working on a full edition of his manuscript in which he described the cave visits: "Beschreibung derer Auf allerhöchsten Befehl Ihrer Röm: Kays. und Königl. Maytt: Francisci I. untersuchten, in dem Herzogthum Crain befindlichen Seltenheiten der Natur" (Nagel 1748).
NATTERER
^e biologist and traveller Johann Natterer (Fig. 20) left his clearly readable signature in Postojnska jama in March 1815 (Fig. 21). tte capital "N" was especially elegantly drawn. tte abbreviated first name "Joh." makes sure that the inscription is not from his elder brother Joseph, cus-tos at the Museum in Vienna. Johann Natterer was born in Laxenburg near Vienna in November 9*^, 1787 (Rokitansky (1957) apparently incorrectly gives 1781), as the son of the imperial falconer to Franz II. He was schooled at the "Real-Akademie" and studied natural sciences. In addition he learnt languages and sketching, and practised hunting and taxidermy. In 1809 he became apprentice at the imperial zoological museum and travelled to Italy from 1812 to 1814. From March to August 1815 he travelled to the Adriatic coast, a trip during which he discovered the black-headed gull Larus melanocephalus. It was during this excursion that he apparently visited the old Adelsberger Grotte. A year later, in 1816, he became an assistant at the museum. In 1817 he sailed to Brazil where
the court in Vienna was not able to honour him by an adequate position. His plan to write an encyclopaedia of the birds of the world was made obsolete by his early death on June, 17'h, 1843, in Vienna (Oesterreichisches Bibliographisches Lexikon 1978, Vol. 7, 39ff, Rokitansky 1957, Wurzbach 1869, Vol. 20: 96ff). Natterer was the most travelled person of whom we found an inscription as yet.
Fig. 20: Lithograph by Michael Sandler depicting Johann Natterer (after 1840) (after Rokitansky 1957).
Fig. 22: Four-line inscription, Panel 12, Imenski rov, reading: "Johann: Melchior Ott. / Johan: Paul Sarcher. / 1642 / den 6. luni block letters, red crayon with a coat of arms.
he stayed until 1836 collecting and preserving animals (among them 12,000 birds), collecting plants and ethnographical items, collections that today form some of the basic stock of the Museum of Natural History in Vienna. He is best known for this achievement, not so much for his published work. Natterer was honoured with a doctor title by the University of Heidelberg and was a member of the Senckenberg'sche Society in Frankfurt, but
Fig. 21: Two-line inscription, Panel 11, Imenski rov, reading „Joh: Natterer / März 1815, charcoal pen.
OTT(O)
Johann Melchior Ott left three signatures in Imenski rov, all written in Latin block letters. Fig. 22 shows the longest, best designed and most important one: it is not only accompanied by a second name (that of Johann Paul Sarcher) but also of a complex coat of arms all carried out in red crayon. It is interesting that Ott spells himself with a double "n" in Johann, while Sarcher is spelled only with one "n". Both Johanns are followed by a double point, similar to the "Joh:" in Natterer's signature. Both names are concluded with a full stop also. In Sarcher's name the "h" was corrected. Possibly Ott (the presumed writer) had intuitively started to write the "h" in Current when he noticed his error and corrected it for a Latin "h". In the table depicting 53 inscriptions from the cave copied by Schaffenrath and published on one plate by Hohenwart (1832b, Plate 19), this inscription is already recorded.
The other two signatures of Ott are much shorter and read "Io Mel. Ott" (Panel 9, written in charcoal) and "Io.. Melchior Ott /1642" (Panel 8; written in charcoal).
tte coat of arms to the right of Ott's and Sarcher's names is that of their "employer", the reigning Prince (Fürst) Johann Anton zu Eggenberg (1610-1649), the owner of castle and town of Adelsberg at the time. Thus we were able to confirm that Ott's and Sarcher's name are
in context with the coat of arms, a circumstance that was previously (Kempe 2003) in doubt. tte coat of arms has five sectors and was carried by the Eggenberg Family in this form from 1628 to 1647, i.e. it fits the date of 1642. It is also known from coins (Heydendorf 1965) and from the keystone of the castle gate of Krumau (Staatliche Burg und Schloss Cesky Krumlov 2006/2007). tte five segments represent the five estates of the Eggenberg's at the time:
Center segment: ttree crowned ravens facing each other (Eggenberg, near Graz, Austria)
Top left: Five roses (Krumau = Česky Krumlov, Bohemia)
Top right: Eagle (Adelsberg = Postojna, since 1608, Slovenia)
Left bottom: Anchor (Pettau = Ptuj, since 1626, Slovenia)
Right bottom: Wheel (Radkersburg, Austria since 1618/1623)
Once we recognized the coat of arms, it was natural to inquire about Ott and Sarcher at the Landesmuseum Joanneum, Department Eggenberg Castle near Graz (Austria). Dr. Barbara Kaiser, the director of the Department, kindly provided us with the following information: "Johann Melchior Otto (he always is spelled "Otto" in the account books) was an artist from Freiburg (today Baden Württemberg, Germany) that was employed as court painter from 1641 until 1670, when he died. tte early date of 1642 suggests that he was visiting the possessions of his new employer. Io. Paul Sarcher is not mentioned among the Eggenberg servants, but a "Meister Paullo" appears at the time who carried out wall paper work ("tapezeyen") in the new castle of the Eggenbergs. Possibly it was him who accompanied Otto."
Otto therefore is, up to now, the oldest historically independently confirmed person that left his signature in the cave.
Tab. 2: Perko's signatures in Postojnska jama.
Inscription	1	2	3	4	5
Fig.	23				
Location	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Postojnska j.	Imenski rov	Postojnska j.
Panel	17D	17A	Pisani rov	17D	Tartarus
Text	Ivan Perko 1890 (?) M Petrič	Ivan ^erko 1^/2 892	P^^t^ko 1892 Ivan	Iv^n ^etko 1896	12/5/09 I. A^n^di. P^etip
Pen	pencil	pencil	charcoal	charcoal	charcoal
Remarks	below Zur 1817				left of Löwengreif
Letters	Latin	Latin	Latin	Latin	Latin
Fig. 23: Two-line inscription, Panel 17D, Imenski rov, reading: "Ivan Perko / 1890" below signed "M. Petrič / 1890"; charcoal pen and pencil.
PERKO AND PETRIC Ivan Andrej Perko (or Johann Andreas in German) signed several times in Postojnska jama. As yet we know of five inscriptions, three in Imenski rov, one in Pisani rov and one on the Tartarus Panel (Tab. 2). ttere may be more because Perko apparently liked to sign where he had been. The signature in Fig. 23 appears be the oldest. The year is, however, not clearly readable. But below is the signature of "M. Petrič", also dated 1890. M. Petrič
is "Matija Petrič, Postojna watchmaker, Postojna firemen official, supplier of Postojna Cave for Bengal light, etc" (pers. comm. A. Kranjc) and was one of the leading members of the Slovenian caving organisation "Anthron" based at Postojna and founded the year earlier, i.e. in 1889 (Kranjc, 2002). Perko signed over a period of at least 17, if not 19 years. Only in the last signature he used abbreviations of both of his
first names. ^is signature, accompanied by those of Evža (?) Kaban and Franc Stepančič (?), was already published in Kempe (2005).
Perko was born 1876 in Volosca (Volosko, Istria) and founded - with his brother Anton and the two brothers Leo and Ernst-Felix Petritsch - already as a student on high school in Trieste the German-speaking speleological club "Hades" in December 2nd, 1893. He was the president of the club that published a hecto-
Tab. 3: Schaffenrath's signatures in Postojnska jama and Predjama.
tria and published about them in Italian and German journals. Perko was instrumental in making Postojnska jama famous world-wide. His initiative led to the foundation of the first biospeleogical station and of the speleological museum. He was member of numerous geological societies and died April 17'h, 1941, in Trieste and is buried in Adelsberg (Hofmann-Montanus & Petritsch 1952; Oesterreichisches Bibliographisches Lexikon, Vol. 7: p. 422).
Inscription	1	2	3	4	5
Fig.					24
Cave	Postojnska].	Postojnska j.	Imenski rov	Predjama	Imenski rov
Panel	Pisani rov	Tartarus	9		17D
Text	Den 10 1825 v. Löwengreif gospodaritscR Schaffent^aih	A,, S^haff^n^t^a^t^h MM^ä^tz 1825	A. Schaffent^^th 1829	Alois Schajfent^ath	Schaffent^ath
Material	pencil	pencil	red crayon	red crayon	pencil
Remarks	above Hochenwarth	above Fercher- signature; Kempe(2005)			
Letters	Latin with flourish	Latin with flourish	Latin with flourish	Latin	Latin
Fig. 24: One-line inscription, Panel 17D, Imenski rov, reading: "Schaffenrath"; pencil.
graphed magazine of the same name, edited by E.-F. Petritsch. Perko was 14 (or 16) when he visited first Postojnska jama and three of the signatures predate the formal foundation of Hades. Perko was student of the natural scientist and speleologist Dr. L.K. Moser. In 1909, be became the secretary of the cave commission and later director of the Adelsberger Grotte. Thus all his signatures predate the time when he was officially responsible for the cave. Perko explored more than 100 caves in the Karst around Trieste, in Krain and Is-
SCHAFFENRATH So far we have knowledge of five signatures of Alois (or Aloys) Schaffenrath (Tab. 3). tte ones on the "Schaffenrath Column" in Pisani rov, on the Tartarus Panel, the 1829 inscription in Imenski rov and the one with Jacob Vidmar in Predjama have already been published (Kempe et al. 2004, Kempe 2005, Kempe 2003, Kempe et al. 2006a, respectively). Fig. 24 depicts the one from Imenski rov, yet unpublished. All inscriptions are written in a clear handwriting, some have a nice flourish below the last letter, underscoring the artistic inclination of the writer. In the Schaffenrath Column inscription (1) Schaffenrath's name is last, suggesting that he was the one to write all of the names, an impression that is substantiated by a comparison of the handwriting with the other signatures. Since only three signatures carry dates, we can only certify Schaffenrath's presence in the cave between 1825 and 1829.
In our previous publications we have already illuminated the role of Schaffenrath in the history of Postojnska jama. Schaffenrath was born in Ljubljana in 1794. He is known as an artist, author and technical engineer. He was first employed at the "Landesbau-, Straßen- und Navigationsamt" (public building, road and navigation department) at Ljubljana until 1825. tten he became civil engineer of the county at Adelsberg, first in a provisional position and from 1829 fully employed. ttus 1825
Tab. 4: List of Zur signatures.
Inscription	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Fig.						26	
Location	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov	Imenski rov
Panel	17D	9	17C	14	17C	12	12
Text	K. v. (?) Zur 1817	1817 Zur	???? Z	Ka^rt v Zur 1817	?? Zur	Ka^r{ v Zur 1817	v. Zur 1817
Material	red crayon	red crayon	pencil	red crayon	red crayon	red crayon	red crayon
Remarks	K. v. very faint; above Ivan Perko	below Joseph v. Löwengreif, L. & Z. at the same time?	only a typical „Z", below Löwengreif, L. & Z. at the same time?		below 1817 Löwengreif; L. & Z. at the same time?		below Alois Čeč
Lettering	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current	Current
Fig. 25: Two-line inscription, Panel 12, Imenski rov, reading "Volpi /1820"; pencil.
to 1829 may have been the period, when he studied the cave and painted the famous views of the cave. ttese were then published as copper etchings and lithographs by Hohenwart (1830, 1832a, 1832b) and are now treasured in the Museum in Ljubljana. He also was responsible for the technical improvements within the cave. Schaffenrath published a guide to the cave in 1834, succeeding the Hohenwart guide that probably was too expensive for the everyday visitor. In 1836, Alois Schaffenrath died, at the early age of 40, in Adelsberg (Oesterreichisches Bibliographisches Lexikon, Vol. 10, p. 26).
VOLPI
tte small pencil signature of "Volpi 1820" is found in Imenski rov (Fig. 25). ^e date suggests that it was left by Giuseppe de Volpi from Trieste because in 1821 he published a paper on bones from Postojnska jama that he had obtained from the district ranger Mühleisen. ^e bones are those of the cave bear, but Volpi incorrectly called the
animal Paleotherium (see Kempe et al. 2005). Volpi also published a plate with the early signatures in Imenski rov that he reportedly had gotten from Löwengreif. It differs for a few signatures from the list of Schaffenrath published by Hohenwart (1832b). Wurzbach (1885, Vol. 51: 278 ff) lists a large family of Volpi / de Volpi that lived in upper Italy, mostly in Venice, but also in other towns of Europe. Many of those were veterinarians with ambitions as writers.
Fig. 26: Two-line inscription, Panel 12, Imenski rov, reading "Karl v Zur /1817; Current, red crayon.
ZUR
tte signature of Karl von Zur was found seven times in various combinations (Tab. 4). All of the capital "Z"s show a swinging handwriting and the following "u" and "r" are written almost in the same size. In one case we only find an individual "Z", but its character suggests that it is an abbreviated "Zur". In two cases the first name is written out, in one case it is abbreviated. Above the "v" (as an abbreviation of the title "von" of the lower nobility)
there is always a "brevis" (a concave-upward dash). ttose signatures that are dated are from the year 1817, i.e. before the discovery of the main passage. tte best signature is reproduced in Fig. 26.
Since in three cases there is a close association with Löwengreif's signature, it must be concluded that they visited the cave together several times. As to the identity of Karl von Zur we so far only could find the following entry in "Standeserhebungen und Gnadenakte" (Franck 1974):
"Zur, Franz, Auditor-Lt, Adstd. Wien 1.V. 1792, (E)" suggesting that a "Franz Zur" was given peerage in 1792. In this context the "Franz v." that appears in one of the Löwengreif inscriptions (Nr. 9, Tab. 1) could be this "Franz von Zur". tte title "Auditor-Lt." suggests that he was employed in a martial court. He could, for example, have been stationed in 1817 in Adelsberg with the military. Karl von Zur might then have been a son that liked to go to the caves with "uncle Löwengreif". ^
CONCLUSIONS
In our investigation of the Imenski rov and its inscriptions we have documented about 400 to 430 signatures that are still entirely or partly legible. Of these we discuss here 18 plus the signature of Hauer from Pisani rov. ^is is less than 5% of available body of the inscriptions. For most of these names we can identify the writers with certainty. tte correlation of the signatures of Bellegarde, Kotze, Mihanovic and Karl von Zur with historic persons is only tentative and even with Hauer we cannot be entirely sure that we found the correct historic person. It is interesting to note, that none of the persons discussed here match those Shaw (2000) discussed in his book about foreign travellers that wrote about cave visits in Slovenia. Apparently these people were not particularly inclined to leave their names in the cave (though corresponding signatures may still be found along the main passage).
When we look at the dates of the visits of these remarkable persons and exclude the 14 signatures of Löwengreif (who visited the cave on official business), we can make the following table (Tab. 5):
It shows, that there are only two inscriptions of historically known persons older than 1800 (i.e., Ott, Nagel) present, while the majority of the inscriptions falls into the time shortly before or after the discovery of the main passage. Apparently the old cave was still visited during the first years after this discovery. Possibly it also was shown when the bridge across the river was not use-
able (compare discussion of the state of the bridge in the early years in Shaw 2000). It is also possible that important people were allowed to sign in the old passage thus preserving the main passage.
Interesting are also multiple signatures, like those of Nagel and Schaffenrath that signed both in Predjama and in Postojnska jama, and Schaffenrath, Löwengreif, Hohenwart, Fercher and Perko who signed not only in Imenski rov, but also in other parts of Postojnska jama. All those mentioned are also the most "remarkable persons" concerning the speleohistory of these caves. To the group of speleologists that signed in the cave also belong Eggenhöfner, A. Čeč and possibly M. Petrič. ^e status of Karl von Zur is doubtful. All others are probably onetime visitors. Among those we find a few natural scientists like Beyrich, Hauer, Natterer and Volpi while the others visitors were just interested tourists.
Tab. 5: Frequency of dated signature of identified persons in various periods.
Period	Frequency
Prior to 1800	2
1801 - 1810	2
1811 - 1820	12
1821 - 1830	6
1831 - 1840	4
after 1840	7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank Dr. Tadej Slabe for organizing our visits to Imenski rov and the administration of Postojnska jama for allowing us into the cave beyond the tourist trails. We also thank Mrs. Maja Kranjc, the librarian of the Karst
Research Institute, Postojna, for checking on some of the names and providing us with citations and Andrej Kranjc for helpful remarks in review. Leon Drame accompanied us to the cave and helped in reading the many names.
Furthermore we are indebted to Dr. Lupold von Lehsten of the Institut für Personengeschichte in Ben-sheim/Germany for his suggestions and references during our search for biographical data on remarkable per-
sons and the possibility to use his library. We also thank Dr. Barbara Kaiser of the Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz for her help during the search for J.M. Ott and the interpretation of the coat of arms of the Eggenbergs.
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Aljančič, M., Bulog, B., Kranjc, A., Josipovič, D., Sket, B. & P. Skoberne, 1993: Proteus, the Mysterious Ruler of Karst Darkness.- Vitrum, pp. 76, Ljubljana.
Franck, K.F. v., 1974: Standeserhebungen und Gnadenakte für das Deutsche Reich und die Österreichischen Erblande bis 1860 u.s.w.- Selbstverlag Schloss Sen-ftenegg, A 3325 Niederösterreich, Vol. 5 (Si-Z), pp. 288, Senftenegg.
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Genealogisches Taschenbuch des Uradels, 1893: 18. Jahrgang, LCVIII + pp. 656, Brünn.
Habe, F., 1968: Luka Čeč, odkritelj Postojnske jame.- In: 150 let Postojnske jame, 1818-1868, pp. 9-17, Postojna.
Heydendorff, W.E., 1965: Die Fürsten und Freiherrn zu Eggenberg und ihre Vorfahren.- Verlag Styria, pp. 240, Graz.
Hofmann-Montanus, H. & E.F. Petritsch, 1952: Die Welt ohne Licht, Höhlenforscher und Höhlengänger in Tragödien und Abenteuern.- J. Habbel, pp. 418, Regensburg.
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APPENDIX
Description of the Grotto of Adelsberg (Postojnska jama) in 1835 in the Austrian National Encyclopaedia (N.N. Oesterreichische National-Encyklopädie, Vol. 1, 18ff)
The Grotto of Adelsberg is mainly remarkable because of its size and its enormous amount of stalactites that hang in thousand styles from arches and walls. Its entrance is situated about 600 Klafter (about 1100 m) from the market town of Adelsberg, and has, as far as yet known and without calculating side branches, a horizontal length of 1250 Kl. (about 2,300 m). It is divided in two main sections: the old and the new grotto. Up to 1818 only the fist one was known, measuring about 200 Kl. (ca. 400 m). One enters the cave by a 100 paces long passage reaching the Giant Dome of Neptune that has 60 Kl. (about 110 m) in circumference and 19 Kl. (about 35 m) in altitude. In this Dome a monument for Emperor Franz is standing, who visited the Grotto in 1816. Now one climbs many steps down, to the Poigk River that precipitates thunderous and foaming into impenetrable darkness. The New Grotto was discovered in 1818 by the Imperial county clerk, Edler von Löwengreif, who named it in honor of the crown prince, today the younger king of Hungary, Ferdinand Grotto. Bend several times, the passage stretches up to a lake; its stalactite formations are specifically worth seeing representing a suite of wondrous forms that have variously been named according to their similarities (with real objects). Just at the start we find the Monument that was erected for the visit of the crown prince in 1819. From there the Meat-bench is reached where there is a side grotto, in which we find the curious English Garden, the Dolphin or Lion and the ttrone. In the continuation of the main passage
to the north, we pass different magnificent formations and reach the gate to the Calvary Mountain. Here a side passage branches off that leads north-eastwards up to the highest cupola of the Mountain. The main passage that bends around left to the west leads to St. Stephan, a stalactite mass similar to a statue and deeper yet to the Capuchin (Monk) and to the Splashing Well (Tropfbrunnen). Further in, a lake stops the advance, even though the grotto continues much deeper. Of the many side passages that branch off the main grotto the endpoints are almost all not known and it is left to future times to survey the extent of the grotto thoroughly; the size of the caves and the diversity of their parts as well as the blinding glitter of the crystals, their infinite numbers and their countless appearances set this grotto far ahead of any discovered up to now. Indescribable is the gorgeous play of colors of the stalactites and stalagmites that dangle in thousand forms from the ceiling or ascend from the floor. Even in zoological aspect this grotto is curious, because a large amount of bones of the so called cave bear was found that lived in so many caves in times past. For the comfort of the visitor of theses grottoes much has been accomplished recently, removing any possible danger. Along the abysses parapets were brought up and those that crossed the path were either filled up and leveled or fitted with stairs of stone. fbe rocks that once threatened to fall off the ceiling were pride loose with long crow bars and precipitated. An encompassing and at the same time picturesque volume about the Grotto of Adelsberg was announced for 1830 by Count Franz von Hohenwarth under the title: Guide to the Adelsberger and Kronprinz-Ferndinand-Grotto as the explanation of the prospects drawn by Schaffenrath, with 8 coppers.