Not so long ago I was in Germany to attend the wedding of my cousin. Germany is a wonderful place – full of history, culture, efficiency and collective memory of a recently tumultuous past. They also have Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte which most of us in the Anglophone world know as Black Forest Gateau. And where better a place to sample one of the pinnacles of Germanic Küche (cuisine) but in the Black Forest itself? So off we went to a place called Staufen in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, which allegedly was where Faust died in a hotel called zum Löwen back in 1501.

He would have been remembered as Germany’s Leonardo da Vinci.

His body is reported to have been grievously mutilated, which the townspeople believed to be due to the devil coming to collect him in person. Historically Faust had been condemned by the church as a blasphemer and in league with the Devil due his wanderings around Germany (which back then didn’t exist as a state as we now know it) where he practiced as a physician, philosopher, alchemist, magician and astrologer. (Perhaps if he had been born 150 years later, he would have been remembered as Germany’s da Vinci.)

Unlimited knowledge

Faust subsequently became a leading figure in German folklore and was ultimately immortalised for us all in Goethe’s “Faust”, in which he (Faust) made a pact with the Devil, selling his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.

The hotel has cracks

There is a beautiful image of Faust and the Devil on the façade of the Hotel zum Löwen, painted as only the Germans are able. The hotel has cracks in that same façade, as do many of the buildings in the town, and the town council has plastered red danger stickers over the worst of them. One of the buildings has been condemned. Which begs the question, what is going on?

Parts of the town have risen by 30 centimetres

It turns out that in an effort to derive some geothermal energy for the town, a number of boreholes were drilled to extract this resource. However it would seem that the boreholes penetrated through an anhydrite (anhydrous calcium sulphate) horizon, and when the hot, high pressure groundwater came into contact with this formation, lead to the transformation of the anhydrite to gypsum (hydrous calcium sulphate). The water is taken up by the crystal structure of the mineral, leading to expansion, much like an expansive clay. Parts of the town have risen by 30 centimetres.

The Town made a pact with the Devil

It would seem that the town, in keeping with its history, has made a pact with the Devil, but unlike its famous resident, did not thrash out the terms of the agreement properly, with ignorance replacing unlimited knowledge. In a more enlightened world, someone would have called a geologist. By the way, the Black Forest Gateau was delicious.