The Neander valley itself used to be a wild, narrow gorge, approximately 50 metres deep. In travelogues from the 18th century it is regularly referred to as Hundsklipp (Dog's Cliff), or Gesteins (The Rocks). The narrow gorge of the Düssel - with its nine caves and two waterfalls - used to be a veritable gem within the surrounding landscape, captured in its essence by more than 150 paintings made by the artists of the Düsseldorf School of Painting at the beginning of the 19th century.