Taubenloch (French: Gorges du Taubenloch) is a

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

in the

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...

, above

Biel/Bienne Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; German language, German: ''Biel'' ; French language, French: ''Bienne'' ; Bernese German, locally ; ; ; ) is a bilingual city in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. With over 55,000 residents, it is the ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It crosses the first Jura Mountain chain, as considered from the Swiss Plateau.

Location

The gorge covers a length of around 2 kilometres between Frinvillier (altitude: 517 m) and Bözingen, a suburb of Biel/Bienne (altitude 447 m). The Suze flows deep in the gorge, originating in the Erguel valley near Saint-Imier and finally flowing to the Lake of Bienne.

History

The gorge is one of the rare natural crossings from the Swiss Plateau to the Jura mountains between

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

and

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. The area was already well colonised at the time of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

: one of the main

Roman roads Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

from Rome led through

Helvetii The Helvetii (, , Gaulish: *''Heluētī''), anglicized as Helvetians, were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Ju ...

Aventicum Aventicum was the largest town and capital of Roman Switzerland (Helvetia or Civitas Helvetiorum). Its remains are beside the modern town of Avenches. The city was probably created ''ex nihilo'' in the early 1st century AD, as the capital of ...

(

Avenches Avenches () is a Switzerland, Swiss municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, located in the district of Broye-Vully District, Broye-Vully. History The roots of Avenches go back to the Celts. A ...

). It continued through Morat, Chiètres and Kallnach to Solodorum ( Solothurn) and Vindonissa ( Windisch), along the eastern part of the Seeland (lake land). Via Witzwil, a second road crossed the Seeland between the Lake of Neuchâtel and the lake of Morat. A spur road from Petinesca went through the steep gorge of Taubenloch, crossed the Jura through the '' Col de Pierre Pertuis'' pass, and lead to Augusta Raurica and what is now modern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

along the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

Origin of the name

The name ''Taubenloch'' was found for the first time in a document dated 1532. Several versions as to its provenience are still being debated. *Daubenloch, from the German words ''Daube'', meaning

precipice In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are co ...

trench A trench is a type of digging, excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a swale (landform), swale or a bar ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or trapping ...

, and ''Loch'', meaning hole or cavity. *''Die Taube'': according to local legend, a young man loved a young girl who was so beautiful, charming and gracious that her nickname was ''die Taube /'' fr.'' la Colombe'' (the

dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

). They wanted to get married, but she was chased away by the despotic Sire of nearby Rondchâtel and found a sorry escape from his clutches in throwing herself to death down the gorge. The gorge was henceforth called the ''Taubenlochschlucht'' (The Gorge of the Dove) in her memory. *Similar, but less romantic: (''Taube''), also meaning pigeon, in reference to birds which allegedly nested in the gorge.

Hiking

A private non-profit corporation was founded in 1889, La société d’exploitation des gorges du Taubenloch, for the only purpose of establishing a hiking path throughout the gorge. Since 1927, part of the Taubenlochschlucht is one of the protected natural sites in Switzerland.

Transjurane T16

Traffic runs through either side of Taubenloch, route 18 (south) and route 6 (north). The " Transjurane" motorway project is expected to be finalised between 2025 and 2030, by following the route of the gorge and linking up what is now the E27.

Sources and references

Tourisme Bienne-Seeland: Excursion gorges du Taubenloch
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110706222738/http://www.vol.be.ch/site/fr/71d_o_13_tubeloch.pdf BE Division forrestière agenda de sécurisation / route romainebr>Nouvel éboulement: fermeture 01.08.2009La légende de la petite colombe
{{coord, 47.157778, 7.264722, display=title Canyons and gorges of Switzerland Landforms of the canton of Bern Tourist attractions in the Canton of Bern