Le Locle's Subterranean Museum
Visiting Les Moulins Souterrains in Le Locle, Switzerland, is a bit like a trip into a Tolkien dwarf cave. At a constant temperature of 44.6 degrees, the subterranean caves, unique in Europe, offered a work environment more amenable than the typical Swiss climate, so in 1652 three millers set up a system of water chutes using the below-ground streams for the purpose of powering water mills located in the underground caves.
Wheat was brought to the caves for grinding into flour, which was used to make bread, a mainstay of the local diet. The leftover stale bread then became the basis for fondue, a popular national dish. The subterranean area also became a sort of factory where clothes and rope were made from flax grown locally. Hemp was also used for making rope, and its cousin, cannabis, was smoked by the workers to help pass the tedium of working underground.
In 1898 the caves became an abbatoir, or slaughterhouse. Livestock brought in from France (Les Moulins Souterrains was almost on the Franco-Swiss border) was inspected for quality, and all diseased or poor-quality animals were killed and dumped in the caves, along with parts of the animals that could not be used commercially. This went on for almost seventy years, filling up the caves, creating a major site of pollution.
Reclamation of the caves began in 1973 and continued for fifteen years. Today, Les Moulins Souterrains has become a museum, recounting a major facet of the lives of residents of the small Swiss town of Le Locle in canton Neuchatel.
Wheat was brought to the caves for grinding into flour, which was used to make bread, a mainstay of the local diet. The leftover stale bread then became the basis for fondue, a popular national dish. The subterranean area also became a sort of factory where clothes and rope were made from flax grown locally. Hemp was also used for making rope, and its cousin, cannabis, was smoked by the workers to help pass the tedium of working underground.
In 1898 the caves became an abbatoir, or slaughterhouse. Livestock brought in from France (Les Moulins Souterrains was almost on the Franco-Swiss border) was inspected for quality, and all diseased or poor-quality animals were killed and dumped in the caves, along with parts of the animals that could not be used commercially. This went on for almost seventy years, filling up the caves, creating a major site of pollution.
Reclamation of the caves began in 1973 and continued for fifteen years. Today, Les Moulins Souterrains has become a museum, recounting a major facet of the lives of residents of the small Swiss town of Le Locle in canton Neuchatel.
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