Photo : Florian Pépellin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Grotte de la balme
The Balme caves are in Isère, about 45 kilometres north-east of Lyon, under the Isle Crémieu plateau, near the Rhône. The entrance of this limestone cavity is monumental: 35 metres high and 28 metres wide. Inside you will find an underground lake, gours, small basins in formation, labyrinths and many concretions.
The place also has a religious history: two superimposed chapels are set up there, one dedicated to the Virgin, going back to the ninth century, the other to Saint John the Baptist, of the fourteenth century, linked by an inner staircase. Francis I came here in 1516, with his mother Louise of Savoy, after the battle of Marignano, to pray in the chapel. The smuggler Louis Mandrin is also associated with the site: one of the two labyrinths bears his name.
From 1951 to 1984, nearly 3,200 metres of network were discovered from the lake, and divers found new siphons in 2000 and 2001. The caves have been open to the public since 1807.
