The Caves of Valkenburg

Posted by Cindy on December 9, 2009

Below a castle on a hill, off in the Netherlands, you’ll find lying in a valley, the small town of Valkenburg.  The castle, now in ruins, was constructed in the 12th Century, and the town today is known for its thermal spas, although a hundred years ago, it often drew tourists for a different reason: Valkenburg’s caves.

Situated in one of the hilliest regions of the Netherlands, Valkenburg offers a chance to visit caves carved from Marlstone cliffs, where a traveler will experience sights of carvings and paintings that stretch back generations of the area’s inhabitants.  The caves, which form a labyrinth of tunnels has been part of a reason for the city’s centuries-long survival, and now it’s a major historical artifact.  They’ve been used since Roman times, when the Romans mined the cliffs for marlstone to build the city, and, in particular the castle, creating two main caves, one known as the Municipal Cave, and the other, the Velvet Cave.  The former cave was mined starting out in 1050 in order to build the castle, and mining ended in 1886, some 836 years later.  There’s over three miles of tunnels, secret passages that were used in Medieval times to preserve the castle from attacks by marauders.  The latter cave system, also known as the Fluweelengrot,
stretches back much farther, over 2000 years, starting out with Romans.  The cave walls contain signs of the area’s distant past as a tropical sea displaying shells and fossils, as well as art work, a much more recent addition: sometime in the 18th Century when secret chapels arose after Napoleon closed down the churches in the area, forcing priests to ally themselves to France instead of the Roman Catholic Church.

The scope of history continues to unfold in these caves: During World War II, US soldiers carved their names in the walls of the cave once they liberated the city from Germany.  Once again, the caves had been a place for people to find safe haven, hiding locals and Jewish people during the war.  The caves include portraits of the Dutch royalty alongside carvings of prehistoric animals.  It’s a fascinating place.  If you wish to walk through this cave, note that a walking tour will take about an hour and you’ll see more than eight hundred meters of the many corridors.  The tour’s in Dutch, but if you speak English, you’ll receive a pamphlet that explains the sights you’ll see.

If you’re more inclined to stay out of caves and relax instead in the hotels Valkenburg provides, then a trip to the spas may be your order of business in this beautiful town.

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