Postcard Hollay cave in Petite Suisse luxembourgeoise, Mullerthal, P.C. Schoren

Luxembourgian postcard from the early twentieth century showing a black-and-white phototype of the Hollay cave in the Petite Suisse luxembourgeoise, the Mullerthal region of eastern Luxembourg. The image shows the interior of the sandstone formation with its characteristic archway and sandy floor, and on the rock walls several engraved visitor inscriptions. In the upper right, legible "MGV St. Matthias 4.VII.06 Trier", referring to a visit by the men's choir of the Saint Matthias parish in Trier on 4 July 1906. In the middle, an inscription "Luxembourg Cercle d'Esch", and on the lower left "Greischf..." and other names from the same period. Below the image, the caption reads "Petite Suisse luxembourgeoise Hollay" with the LUX publisher's mark. Published by Kunstverlag P.C. Schoren, Luxemburg-Bahnhof, as number 45 in the Mullerthal Series. The verso is unwritten and unposted. The card is in good condition.

The Petite Suisse luxembourgeoise, also known as Mullerthal or Müllertal, is a sandstone landscape of deeply cut valleys, rock blocks and caves, situated between Echternach, Berdorf and Consdorf. During the first decades of the twentieth century, the region developed into a busy walking area for Luxembourgian and German tourists, associations and school excursions. The Hollay cave was one of the regular stops on the trails, and the soft sandstone inadvertently turned the cave walls into an archive of visitor names: choirs, associations, individual walkers and student groups immortalised their passage in engraved letters that accumulated from the late nineteenth century onward. That the graffiti on this card are legibly dated to 1906 places the photographic exposure after that date and makes the card itself a document about the documenting of a place.