Wandering through Sun Mountain by Nop Briex

About "Wandering through Sun Mountain"

by Nop Briex

About the artwork

The Zonneberg forms the eastern part of the Sint Pietersberg. The system of tunnels, popularly called the caves, of Maastricht are man-made. At one time, the Sint Pietersberg had a system of 22,000 tunnels. Due to ENCI's commercial marl mining, only a fraction of this remains. The marlstone, fossilised sandy soil of the Cretaceous Sea, was extracted in earlier times by so-called block sawing and crushing. One dug a pit and worked from top to bottom. The miners moved their oil lamp every time another block was broken and hoisted up. Traces of soot can still be found on the vaults of the mine galleries. The stones were used for houses and church construction, garden and facade decorations. The caves were also used as shelters during sieges. After the Reformation and the Great Revolt, Catholicism became a minority religion. The church went 'underground' and so the caves provided space for hiding churches. After the establishment of the Batavian Republic led by William I in 1795, Catholicism even became religion No 1 in the Netherlands again. In the caves, there is no daylight and it is therefore earth dark. If you are unfamiliar or go in without a guide, you will definitely get lost. The caves made a big impression on me. As a child, I experienced the corridors as majestic. That experience is reflected in this work of art where the human scale is disproportionate to the actual dimensions of the marl corridors. Finally, a beautiful work that might make you want to go to Maastricht one day to visit the caves. With a guide!