Dragon's Lair at Mixnitz

The Drachenhöhle near Mixnitz is a limestone cave high in the Austrian Alps at 950 metres above sea level. Its wide entrance, twenty metres across and twelve metres high, opens onto a passage that stretches over half a kilometre. The cave sits south-east of Bruck an der Mur in the Steiermark region, surrounded by steep wooded slopes. Inside, the main chamber reaches forty metres across and rises ten to fifteen metres, forming one of the largest bear dens in the Alps. During the Middle Ages, local people mistook cave bear bones for dragon remains, giving the cave its name. The cave’s sediments once yielded around 2,500 tons of phosphoric fertiliser between 1918 and 1923. Beneath these layers, archaeologists uncovered fossils of cave bears, Eurasian cave lions, grey wolves, Alpine ibex and Alpine marmots. Excavations also revealed stone tools from the Aurignacian culture, dated between 65,000 and 31,000 BCE. These tools rank among the oldest signs of human presence in Austria. More than 30,000 cave bear fossils have been recovered, and the site has been protected since 1928. Visitors walk along marked paths through the main chamber and two excavated zones. The cave’s high vaulted roof and broad floor create an imposing space lit by natural light at the entrance. Informative panels explain the cave’s geological layers and the Ice Age animals that once sheltered here. The surrounding hills offer scenic walks, linking the cave to wider alpine trails.