Vallorbe caves

Descents in the grotto

The Caves of Vallorbe (or caves of Orbe or Feengrotte Vallorbe ) located at the source of the Orbe ( Source de l'Orbe ) in Vallorbe , Vaud , Switzerland .

prehistory

150 million years ago the area was covered with a sea and resembled an island landscape. In the next 10 million years, about 200 meters of limestone was deposited, which serves as the basis for the formations in the grotto. In the next 120 million years further layers such as sandstone, marl and clay were added. About seven million years ago, the sea finally retreated due to tectonic changes. The basic requirements for the Vallorbe caves were in place.

Discovery of the cave system

Towards the end of the 19th century, a connection between Lac Brenet and the lower Orbe spring was shown with water coloring. An attempt to dive into the cave system was unsuccessful due to a lack of technical equipment. It was not until 1961 that three divers (Michel Gallet, Jean-Claude Protta Protta and Alain Sauty) succeeded in exploring the cave system 140 meters deep within five dives. In 1964, two other divers discovered a dry gallery above the "Lake of Silence". In 1966, research by another team of three divers had already discovered several hundred meters of the dry galleries.

Vallorbe formed a committee to finance the work on the grotto and to drill an artificial entrance so that the cave could be entered on foot. On April 6, 1974, the cave was opened as a tourist attraction in Vallorbe. In 1978 the Swiss Society for Speleology discovered several hundred meters of new corridors in the dry galleries. A very precise topography of the entrance siphon could also be created and the “Gallery of Hope” and the “Siphon of Despair” were discovered.

No important discoveries followed in the 1980s, but the cave was better made accessible to visitors. In 1983, the highest point was moved 100 meters upstream, allowing a view of the “Great Hall”. In 1986 the entrance was extended to allow direct access to the more distant areas of the grotto. In 1992 the “Fairy Treasury” was opened. This treasury was designed by the architect B. Verdon and consists of four artificial, connected, circular cells with triangular display cases of a mineral collection on the walls.

Source de l'Orbe

The Source de l'Orbe ( fr. For Orbequelle ) is the karst spring at the entrance of the caves of Vallorbe. Here the Orbe rises directly from a rock face. The flow of the Source de l'Orbe fluctuates between 2 cubic meters per second at low water levels and 80 cubic meters per second at high tides.

legend

The fact that the grotto is also popularly called Grotte aux Fées ("fairy grotto "), like the cave of the same name near Saint-Maurice in Valais, comes from a legend. According to legend, there was a young, strong and handsome man named Donat among the Vallorber ironworkers. But he was also a show-off and a babbler. The big and beautiful fairies supposedly living in the grotto showed up from time to time to individual villagers. Donat wanted to visit the fairies and went to the grotto. But tired from the ascent, he lay down on a bed of bracken and fell asleep. When he woke up, he saw a fairy shaking hands with him. She asked Donat if he wanted to stay with her. Apparently she liked Donat very much, because she promised to make him happy for a century. He is supposed to get a pearl and a piece of gold every day, as long as he promises her not to visit her in her apartments. Donat accepted the offer. After a few days of happy togetherness, he still wanted to go into her room out of curiosity to see what she was actually hiding from him. He found her asleep and saw her ugly crow's feet through the slightly pulled up dress. At that moment the fairy woke up and drove Donat away and threatened him not to reveal the secret of her feet to anyone, otherwise she would punish him. When he returned to the village's smithy, he told everyone the story. But nobody in the village believed him. To prove his story, he presented the villagers with the pearls and pieces of gold and then bitterly discovered that they were really just autumn leaves and juniper berries. Donat left the village humiliated and has never been seen since.