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www.speleophilately.com
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Grotte de Remouchamps in
Belgium |
About 20 kilometers south-east of
Liège, in the Amblève valley, we can find one of Belgium's oldest
tourist-caves:the Remouchamps cave.
The Remouchamps cave was well known since 1828, and afterwards in a
period of 100 years, many new parts of the cave were discovered and
investigated.
Already in 1830 the first archeological excavations were started, and
until now many thousands of artifacts were found and studied. In
prehistoric times only the entrance tunnel was inhabited. Deeper in the
cave no artifacts, drawings or other traces of habitation were found.
Around 1900 some famous Belgian and French speleologists like E. Rahir
and E.A. Martel penetrated to the end of the cave.
For the first time Martel used here his famous collapsible boat.
In the last century a visit to the cave was an adventurous event. Since
1913 footpaths, tunnels and bridges were constructed and afterwards the
cave was opened for mass tourism.
Until today millions of people visited the cave, with a brake during
W.W. II. In 1944 the inhabitants of Remouchamps used the cave as shelter
during the Ardennes offensive.
When visiting the cave nowadays, a great part of the tour is made by
boat. During the boat trip the visitor passes the big column in the
middle of the river Rubicon, which is pictured on the Belgian post stamp
issued in 1976.
In little village of Remouchamps the majority of the people is working
in the tourist industry. Therefore the post office of Sougné-Remouchamps
is using a suitable postmark, which is also interesting for the speleo
stamp collector.
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