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= Grottoes of Ferrand = The Grottoes of Ferrand (French: Grottes de Ferrand)

In Saint-Hippolyte, Aquitaine, within the modern départment of Gironde, near Saint-Émilion.

Created by Élie de Bétoulaud (1638/9-1709), seigneur of Saint-Pauly, Ferrand, and Jaugue-Blanc, linked to the précieuses, whom he met at Madeleine de Scudéry's salon, "les samedis de Sapho." Went by the pseudonym of "Damon." Lawyer and friend of Paul Pellisson and writer of several texts.

De Scudéry alludes to the grottoes in Nouvelles conversations de morale dédiées au Roy (1684), when the character Céphise suggests going to Damon's "hermitage" where he lives "surrounded by the Muses."

Bétoulaud's will.

Intervening years of graffiti.

The grottoes were rediscovered by the archeologist Émilien Piganeau, who published the first study of them in 1892.

Sources to locate:

Jean-Michel Audouin, "Les grottes de Ferrand," Club de recherches et d'explorations souterraines, CDC, 1984. ISSN 0246- 3369