Volkenburg Kasteel & Velvet Cave 080328/sa

Valkenburg Castle

In the city of Valkenburg you can find the remains of Valkenburg Castle. The first fortifications at this site were probably built around 1115. As with most European castles, over the centuries, this castle has been destroyed by enemy sieges and rebuilt numerous times. After repeated sieges and takeovers, in 1465, 1568 and 1632, an almost total destruction followed in 1672 by the troops of King-Stadtholder Willem III, when they blew up the castle to prevent it to fall in the hands of the French troops. The castle fell into decay and was never rebuild again.

From then on the castle ruin was used as a quarry by the local people. In 1795, the ruin was confiscated by the French troops of Napoleon and a couple of years later was sold to Maximilian, Count of Hoen of Neufchateau, Lord of Schaloen. Until 1919, the Lords of Schaloen kept the castle ruin in their possession. In 1924, the castle became the property of the Valkenburg Castle Foundation.

I don't know what it is about castles, but its almost impossible to take a bad picture at one!

Velvet Cave

In 1937, during restorations of the castle ruin, workers discovered secret underground passages hewn into the rock beneath the castle. The medieval knights used these passages as escape routes and for breakouts during sieges. The rock consists of marlstone which was used to build houses, churches, castles and other buildings in this part of the country. These passages gave access to the Velvet Cave. This cave originated due to marlwinning inside the rock. As a result of ages of marlwinning there is a labyrinth of over three miles of passages inside the rock.

Most of the carvings you will see in our pictures are 100-150 years old. They stay in tack due to the high concentration of moisture in the cave. Another result of the moisture, in combination with the light, is the forming of algae in the cave and like Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, it comes with its share of bats. The cave has five exits, three of which exit into the woods. It is difficult to imagine that most of these carvings were done in only the dim light of a candle, torch or little oil lamp.

We took a tour of the cave which was in Dutch so most of the detail of the carvings we missed; however, there was one story that our guide kindly shared with his "American friends."

During WWII the cave served as a shelter for Jewish and local people, hiding from the German soldiers. In September 1944, American soldiers transformed Valkenburg into a front town in order to attack the Germans (I think its only about 50 miles to the German border). By way of the passages in the cave, the American scouts were piloted to the castle ruins, from where they spotted the position of the German troops on the other side of the river Geul. After attack by the Americans, the German troops effectively were defeated and dislodged. During those liberation days, 400 local people took shelter in the Velvet Cave for a period of six days and nights. After the liberation of Valkenburg, the American liberators also visited the remaining parts of the cave’s passages. Throughout the cave, the name of these soldiers remain engraved in the walls.

The silhouettes of the American soldiers were portraited with oil lamp and charcoal by one of the former guides in the Velvet Cave after liberation. The portraits were made in honor and memory of the brave soldiers. In 1994, on the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Valkenburg, the "Old Hickories" (American liberating soldiers) revisited the cave. It was a very emotional day.

Also inside the rock a chapel is hewn, which was used during the French occupation period. In 1794, the area was overtaken by the French under Napoleon. The French occupiers exiled the pope and forced all Roman Catholic priests to take the oath of faith to the French constitution. Those who refused were exiled to the Isle of Rhe and left to die. In 1796, the French plundered and closed all churches in this area which led to the establishment of refuge chapels in the area where priests secretly read mass for the local people. The chapel is equipped with an alter, a pulpit, a confessional and a baptismal.

Don't forget to check out the pictures by clicking on the links above.