Attraction

Groeve Zonneberg

Lage Kanaaldijk
Maastricht
This limestone quarry, the largest in the Sint-Pietersberg, has a rich history. Of all the quarries, you can see the most of the various underground activities that took place here.

Groeve Zonneberg was created in the Middle Ages through the extraction of marl. The oldest wall writing dates from 1551. During the quarrying of the limestone blocks, an extensive underground tunnel system was created.

Houses, farms and churches were built from the soft limestone. Around 1900, tourism took off and holidaymakers and interested parties took guided tours of the quarries.

To make the experience more interesting, artists were asked to make charcoal drawings against the marl walls in the quarries. The Zonneberg quarry competed with another quarry for the most beautiful art.

This is how a museum was created, Museum Zonneberg. Here you can admire the skeleton of a seven meter long Mosasaur. Also very impressive is the air-raid shelter from the Second World War.

This corridor system would form a safe haven for 40,000 residents of Maastricht if Maastricht were to become a front city. Parts of the corridor system were reserved for the various districts in the city.

During the war, all kinds of underground spaces were built, such as baking ovens for baking bread (with a 30-meter chimney), pump rooms for the water supply, chapels for prayer, a hospital and sanitary facilities. A hidden past…

The Cave Night Watch is located in Groeve Zonneberg. This is a reproduction of the famous Night Watch, full size and made with charcoal by Jules Sondeijker around 1900.

No one could have known then that forty years later the original would be some 300 meters from this reproduction! Nearby is the Kunstbunker of the Sint-Pietersberg.

During the Second World War, some of the greatest national art treasures were housed here, including Rembrandt's original Night Watch.
This text has been automatically translated using an online translation service.

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