Organ hall
Station 2
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The Hall of the Organ is the largest chamber in the Grotto, named for the magnificent calcite flows on the back wall, reminiscent of a church's pipe organ. Together, they form the Grotto's largest, most enormous, and imposing column. On the wall, you will notice two commemorative plaques: they recall the visits of King Carlo Alberto of Savoy, who visited the Grotto three times: first as a prince in 1829, and twice as King of Sardinia in the early 1840s, once bringing his son Vittorio Emanuele, the future King of Italy.
Looking at the wall at the back of the lake, about 5 meters high, you will see two horizontal black traces: these are marks left by water during the last interglacial period, about 125,000 years ago, when sea levels rose due to a natural and cyclical increase in temperatures.
On the right side of the Organ, nature has set up its Christmas Tree: a conical stalagmite about 6 meters high. The green color that characterizes it, which you may have seen in other parts of the Grotto, is entirely natural, caused by plant encrustations on the rock formations. This means that the Grotto is in good health.
Next to the Tree, you will notice a small beach that emerges only at low tide: it is called the Seal Beach, and if you look closely, you will understand why. Until the mid-20th century, the Grotto often hosted visits from another animal besides humans: the monk seal. An endangered species, it has often been threatened by humans, so only 500 individuals remain today. However, what you see now are not petrified seals, but stalagmites that somehow seem to recall their presence, in the hope that one day real seals might return.
Once inside this world, time takes on a relative value. If we consider that it takes Nature a hundred years to create a cubic centimeter of stalactite, and nearly three hundred years to raise one centimeter of stalagmite, our lives certainly take on a different perspective. How many of us will live to be a hundred? In Sardinia, we often wish each other this: "a chent’annos!" Here they are, our hundred years: a cubic centimeter of stalactite.
But enough philosophy! It is time to continue our journey to the next stop: the Great Dome.
Looking at the wall at the back of the lake, about 5 meters high, you will see two horizontal black traces: these are marks left by water during the last interglacial period, about 125,000 years ago, when sea levels rose due to a natural and cyclical increase in temperatures.
On the right side of the Organ, nature has set up its Christmas Tree: a conical stalagmite about 6 meters high. The green color that characterizes it, which you may have seen in other parts of the Grotto, is entirely natural, caused by plant encrustations on the rock formations. This means that the Grotto is in good health.
Next to the Tree, you will notice a small beach that emerges only at low tide: it is called the Seal Beach, and if you look closely, you will understand why. Until the mid-20th century, the Grotto often hosted visits from another animal besides humans: the monk seal. An endangered species, it has often been threatened by humans, so only 500 individuals remain today. However, what you see now are not petrified seals, but stalagmites that somehow seem to recall their presence, in the hope that one day real seals might return.
Once inside this world, time takes on a relative value. If we consider that it takes Nature a hundred years to create a cubic centimeter of stalactite, and nearly three hundred years to raise one centimeter of stalagmite, our lives certainly take on a different perspective. How many of us will live to be a hundred? In Sardinia, we often wish each other this: "a chent’annos!" Here they are, our hundred years: a cubic centimeter of stalactite.
But enough philosophy! It is time to continue our journey to the next stop: the Great Dome.
