The Caves of Maastricht, also known as the caves of
Mount Saint Peter
Mount Saint Peter (French: ''Montagne Saint-Pierre''; Dutch: ''Sint-Pietersberg''), also referred to as Caestert Plateau, is the northern part of a plateau running north to south between the valleys of the river Geer to the west, and the Meuse t ...
[Bender, Marvin "A DUTCH TREAT" The New York Times Nov 8 1981 https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/08/travel/a-dutch-treat.html] or the Maastricht Underground, are a collection of
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
quarries in
Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
, the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, the origins of which date back to the 13th century.
They were originally dug to mine
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
. In total, a network of 20,000 tunnels were cut into the stone, of which 8,000 are still intact.
["The Caves of Maastricht" https://discoverlimburg.nl/caves-maastricht/ ]
The caves were eventually no longer used for mining, as the value of lime dropped. Over some hundreds of years, art was drawn on the cave walls, providing an attraction to tourists who can tour some of the cave sections.
[
During ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the cave complex was used to store many valuable paintings and armaments that could be used against the Germans, including a proposed force of 30 tanks that would sortie against the Germans that was timed to attack at the same point of liberation. In addition to the military, over 6,000 citizens took shelter in the caves during World War II.[
After the war, there were plans to utilise the underground complex as a bomb shelter.
Among the paintings hidden in the caves during WWII was The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn. The canvas which measures 363 × 437 cm. was detached from its frame and rolled into a large cylinder.
A large portion of the former tunnel system no longer exists as the encompassing limestone was quarried in an open-cast mine operated by ENCI. Quarrying was ceased in 2018.]
See also
*Mosasaur
Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ' meaning 'lizard') comprise a group of extinct, large marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous. Their first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on ...
* Kőbánya cellar system
* Mines of Paris
*Odessa Catacombs
The Odesa Catacombs are a labyrinth-like network of tunnels (subterranean cavities) located under the city of Odesa and its outskirts in Ukraine, that are mostly (over 90%) the result of stone mining, particularly coquina.Bachynska, O. Odesa Cataco ...
* Beer Quarry Caves
References
{{Man-made and man-related Subterranea
Maastricht
Caves of Europe
Limestone industry
Limestone caves