2021年1月

霍恩施万高城堡, 巴伐利亚, 德国 Hohenschwangau Castle, Bavaria, Germany (© Mespilia/Shutterstock)

An Alpine fairytale castle

During a walking tour in the spring of 1829, Crown Prince (and future King) Maximilian II of Bavaria fell in love with these forested mountains and Alpine lakes, so three years later he bought the dilapidated remains of a 12th-century castle overlooking the village of Hohenschwangau. The yellow neo-Gothic castle that Maximilian built to replace the earlier ruins became the summer home and hunting retreat for the king, his wife Marie of Prussia, and their two sons, Ludwig and Otto. Hohenschwangau Castle became a kind of fantasy palace, particularly for the two young princes, who spent their time traipsing through the forest, reciting poetry, and staging scenes from the Romantic operas of Richard Wagner.

After the death of King Maximilian in 1864, Ludwig ascended to the throne and moved into his father's rooms in Hohenschwangau castle. He ordered that stars be painted onto the bedroom's ceiling and had them illuminated by hidden oil lamps. Ludwig and his successors made few other modifications, so most of the rest of the castle remains unchanged even today—the 19th-century interiors contain period furniture, and preserved on the walls are more than 90 frescoes depicting heroic German folklore and the medieval legends of Wagner's operas.

阿尔卑斯山童话城堡

在1829年春天的一次徒步旅行中，巴伐利亚的王储（和未来国王）马克西米利安二世爱上了这些森林覆盖的山脉和阿尔卑斯山湖泊，因此三年后，他买下了一座12世纪的城堡的破旧遗骸，俯瞰着霍恩施旺高村。马克西米利安为取代早期遗址而建造的黄色新哥特式城堡成为国王、普鲁士的妻子玛丽和他们的两个儿子路德维希和奥托的夏季家园和狩猎撤退地。霍恩施万高城堡成了一座梦幻宫殿，尤其是对两位年轻的王子来说，他们花时间在森林中穿山，背诵诗歌，并上演理查德·瓦格纳的浪漫歌剧场景。

1864年马克西米利安国王去世后，路德维希登上王位，搬进了他父亲在霍恩施旺高城堡的房间。他命令把星星涂在卧室的天花板上，用隐藏的油灯照亮它们。路德维希和他的继任者几乎没有进行其他修改，因此城堡的其他大部分仍然保持不变——19世纪的室内装着时期的家具，墙壁上保存着90多幅壁画，描绘了德国英雄的民间传说和瓦格纳歌剧的中世纪传说。

远眺格斯韦因斯泰因村和格斯韦因斯泰因城堡 (© Juergen Sack/Getty Images)

峰牙－己榜国家公园中的韩松洞，越南 Sơn Đoòng cave in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, Vietnam (© David A Knight/Shutterstock)

A universe underground

When Vietnamese farmer Hồ Khanh stumbled upon this cave in 1991, it was immediately clear the gaping mouth led to a huge, dark, untouched chamber, complete with a free-flowing underground river. What couldn't have been clear to him then was that this cave, now known as Sơn Đoòng, is by far the world's largest in volume.

Lacking gear to explore the cave further, Khanh could only wander back home and tell friends about his discovery. But he was unable to retrace his steps to the cavern, his tracks engulfed by the jungle. Relegated to rumor, the cave went unexplored for almost two decades until a visiting team of British cavers caught wind of Khanh's tale. In 2009, Khanh led them to Sơn Đoòng after a long search, and explorations commenced that found the cave was vast beyond anyone's expectations.

Sơn Đoòng is over 1.5 billion cubic feet in volume, with its main chamber 650 feet high, almost 500 feet wide, and stretching more than 3 miles, large enough to fly a Boeing 747 through—but look out for the 15-story stalagmites. One of the cave's massive dolines—sunken, sun-exposed sections like the one seen here—hosts an entire rainforest ecosystem. And that's just what we know so far: Cave divers have yet to fully explore Sơn Đoòng's subterranean river, and vast passages found as recently as 2019 have only added to what's known of the cave's enormity.

地下的宇宙

1991年，当越南农民HồKhanh偶然发现了这个洞穴时，人们立刻清楚地看到，张开的洞口嘴通向一个巨大的、黑暗的、未被触及的洞穴，里面有一条自由流动的地下河。当时他不清楚的是，这个洞穴，现在被称为SơnĐoòng，是迄今为止世界上最大的洞穴。

由于缺乏进一步探索洞穴的装备，卡恩只能漫步回家，告诉朋友他的发现。但他无法回到洞穴，他的足迹被丛林吞噬。由于流言蜚语的影响，这个洞穴在近20年的时间里一直未被发现，直到一队英国探洞者闻到了卡恩的故事。2009年，Khanh带领他们经过长时间的搜寻，来到了SơnĐoòng，开始了探险，发现这个洞穴的面积超出了任何人的预期。

SơnĐoòng的体积超过15亿立方英尺，其主舱室高650英尺，宽近500英尺，长度超过3英里，足以让一架波音747飞机通过，但要注意15层楼高的石笋。洞穴中一条巨大的低谷下陷，暴露在阳光下，就像这里看到的一样，这里有一个完整的雨林生态系统。而这正是我们目前所知道的：洞穴潜水员还没有完全探索sơnĐoòng的地下河，而最近在2019年发现的巨大通道只是增加了人们所知的洞穴的巨大性。