Chambre des Demoiselles

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Chambre des Demoiselles, 2019
Access to the Chambre des Demoiselles, 2019

Chambre des Demoiselles is a cave on the Alabaster Coast in Normandy , France .

Location and nature

It is located in the municipality of Étretat on the east side of the Falaises d'Aval chalk cliff .

The cave is only a narrow crevice. It is marked by two rock peaks. A footbridge leads to one of the rock peaks, from which a tunnel leads to the western tip.

Legend

The name Chambre des Demoiselles means something like girls' chamber in German and goes back to a legend. After that, the three daughters of the merchant Jolivet, Jacinthe, Eléonore and Catherinette lived in Étretat. The girls' three fiancés were soldiers in the war. After the expected return, a triple wedding should take place. Shortly before he wanted to marry his mistress himself, Seigneur Pays de Caux, Baron de Fréfossé asked the three girls to serve in his castle, today's Château du Tilleul . However, the sisters refused several times. Fréfossé watched the girls on an excursion to the Falaises d'Aval, whereupon they fled into the crevice and hid there for the night. When they were about to leave their hiding place the next morning, however, they found that Fréfossé had blocked access. When the inhabitants of Étretat noticed the disappearance of the three women, they began to look for them. However, the search was in vain. After three days and nights without food or water, the three sisters died in the Chambre des Demoiselles.

On the day of her death, three pigeons are said to have ascended over the rock, which were interpreted as the souls of the three girls. The spirits of the sisters are said to have returned and took revenge on Fréfossé. Even today, the ghosts of the girls in white robes are said to roam the crevice at night and in fog.

According to another description of the legend, when Fréfossé wanted to free them, the three sisters disappeared without a trace. On which it is suspected that they would have turned into fairies . Even today you should be able to hear her crying in the howling sea wind.

In another variant, the girls manage to hide from the baron in the cave in such a way that he looks for them in vain. The exit is blocked by a landslide, so they die in the Chambre des Demoiselles. The baron was filled with repentance and was constantly haunted by the spirits of women.

The French poet Guy de Maupassant based his poem Légende de la Chambre des Demoiselles à Étretat on the legend of the Chambre des Demoiselles.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eugène Anne, La Chambre des Demoiselles. on www.normandie-heritage.com (French)
  2. ↑ Légende d'Etretat: La Chambre des Demoiselles of June 19, 2018 on etretatavecfx.com (French)
  3. ^ Françoise Foucher, Étretat , Éditions d'Art Jack, Louannec, June 2018, ISBN 978-2-37773-037-7 , page 6
  4. ↑ Eugène Anne, La Chambre des Demoiselles. on www.normandie-heritage.com (French)
  5. ↑ Légende de la Chambre des Demoiselles à Étretat on www.poetica.fr (French)

Coordinates: 49 ° 42 '25.2 "  N , 0 ° 11' 40.3"  E