Barbarastollen

Basic Information

The Barbarastollen (named after Saint Barbara) is a former mine near Freiburg im Breisgau in Baden-Württemberg which now serves as the main historical and cultural archive of Germany. Among the documents stored here are:

• The original treaty text of the Peace of Westphalia
• The Golden Bull of 1356
• The Bull by Pope Leo X threatening Martin Luther with excommunication
• The coronation document of Otto I
• The original building plans for the Cologne Cathedral

In addition to that, there are many millions of meters of microfilm archives of historical and archival interest for Germany, including the entire state microfilm archives of the German Democratic Republic.

The entire complex is buried under 400 meters of rock, as it is intended to survive a nuclear war. Furthermore, it is estimated that its contents should survive for at least 500 years of abandonment without any serious damage.

See Also

• Underground Architecture

Sources

Bibliography

1. Floor plan of the archive

2. German Wikipedia entry

Game and Story Use

• Many adventures (Call of Cthulhu adventures especially) involve some research in old libraries and historical archives. The Barbarastollen, assuming that the PCs can get permission to get in there, would be a particularly spectacular location for doing such research.
• They named a depository after the patron saint of Artillerymen and Explosives handlers?
  • Apparently Barbara would do for anyone at risk of sudden death - mining has never been particularly safe.
• In an After The End campaign, the Barbarastollen would become an incredibly valuable treasure trove of Knowledge of the Ancients. The faction that controls it - whether a secretive monastic order or a regional warlord - might have the needed knowledge to rebuild civilization with it.
  • Let's hope that faction has the wisdom to use it the right way, instead of hoarding it (or worse, using the microfilm as fodder for its camp fires).
  • Of course, any useful information for such survivors is likely buried under kilometers of obscure historical matters and bureaucratic information in the best German style, and finding that information will require a lot of patience.
    • And even then, there might be amusing historical misunderstandings of German practices and behavior. I mean, how are the future researchers to know that the Bavarian Schuhplattler was not an invocation to call up rain?