St. Pietersberg, Maastricht

st. Pietersberg Caves (Grotten st. Pietersberg)
In the old days the people from Maastricht used a lot of marl to build their houses. The marl could be found in the hill called 'St. Pietersberg.' ('berg' means 'mountain' in Dutch; but considering the flatness of the rest of the country, it's not surprising that they call every small hill a Mountain in the South!)During the process of getting all this marl out of the hill, through the ages there arised a labyrinth of small tunnels. At this moment there are some 20.000 tunnels inside the hill. The man who were breaking the blocks of marl out of the hill, left their traces. Nowadays you can see on the walls of the tunnels interesting, moving messages, inscripts and even art, made by unknown artists. An other intersting feature is that these tunnels also expose lots of fossils, of fish and other animals who lived in that Maastricht regio millions of years ago!
Because of the fact that the tunnels and holes are located deep underground, they served as a safe place to hide for Maastricht citizens during several sieges of Maastricht (f.e. during w.w. 2: The caves were during this war used to hide Rembrands'famous Nachtwacht, so that the Germans could not lay their hands on it!) All the facilities underground, used by those people during those days, are still visible! Temperature in the caves is about 10 degr. C, so you better wear a warm sweater.

The famouse 'St. Pietersberg' caves are the result of centuries of excavation of marl, a building stone. What we now see is an enormous labyrinth of more than 20,000 passages. The stone-hewers have left their marks. On the walls are interesting inscriptions, some extremely old; artists too, have been at work here. During the many sieges Maastricht has suffered, and also during the last world war, local inhabitants used the passages as a shelter;some of the emergency provisions are still to be seen. The temperature in the caves is 9-10 degrees Celcius, visitors are therefore advised to take a cardigan, pullover or coat with them. The round-trips, which last about an hour, are led by official VVV Tourist Office guides. Two sections of the labyrinth of Mount St. Pieter are open to the public.

The caves of the St. Pietersberg. Maastricht is build in a valley (of the Meuse). The St. Pietersberg is the highest 'mountain' in the area. In past centuries men have used the marl in the ground of Limburg to build houses. Nowadays there are guided tours in this caves that are left after the mining of the marls. This picture is of the caves in the St. Pietersberg.
I would recommend the caves of the 'Jezuiten' (monks), who painted the walls in the caves and made statues out of the sandstone.

The famouse 'St. Pietersberg' caves are the result of centuries of excavation of marl, a building stone. What we now see is an enormous labyrinth of more than 20,000 passages. The stone-hewers have left their marks. On the walls are interesting inscriptions, some extremely old; artists too, have been at work here. During the many sieges Maastricht has suffered, and also during the last world war, local inhabitants used the passages as a shelter; some of the emergency provisions are still to be seen.
The temperature in the caves is 9-10 degrees Celcius; visitors are therefore advised to take a cardigan, pullover or coat with them. The round-trips, which last about an hour, are led by official VVV Tourist Office guides. Two sections of the labyrinths of Mount St. Pieter are open to the public.

Well, this was something special and definitley worth walking all the way from the city center to the suburbs!

More info and pics are in the travelogue!