This corridor is a passageway leading from the other side of the hill, where the underground quarry really begins.

This place was called "The Station" by the group of explorer "shills". The rails are still under water to some completely flooded. It takes a boat to access this part of the underground quarry.

This room is one of the largest of the underground quarry sand. Its length is over 20m. The pillars of wood supporting structures are now as fragile as paper.
However, the ceiling is very strong. While the underground quarry remains wet sand stays compact. There was very little collapse since I know her.

Quarries of Herblay are over 14km wide and some hundreds of meters deep, on hillsides along the Seine.

In 1776, the exploitation of new underground quarries in Paris was forbidden. People had to take the stone elsewhere. It is for this reason that the quarry was known as "Imperial quarry" or "Quarry of the city of Paris". They built many monuments in Paris with this stone because it was high quality (the famous Royal stone).

Among the monuments built, there was The Pantheon of Paris, Department of Marine Place de la Concorde, the Gare de l'Est, the mint as well as many statues at Versailles.

The network's quarries has been excessively exploited in Herblay. The ceiling is fragile and the walls separating the tunnels are very thin. To reinforce the quarry, they have added many pillars and reinforcement structures.

Later, like many underground quarries, they served to mushroom plantation in the 1980s. The workers have dug additional corridors between small quarries networks.

A few years later and they were gradually abandoned. The latest mushroom plantation closed in 1995.

Since 2003, the association "Herblay heritage" has undertaken to make public visits to the part of the "English entry" with the famous double-arched vault and pretty ponds.

The underground limestone quarry of Bazemont, located in the Yvelines, was exploited for its rough limestone. There are still several excavations along the quarry road. People said in the village that the steeple of the cathedral of Chartres was built with stone from this quarry.

The quarry is also witnessed the wars of the 19th century. There are many drawings of ancient time. Drawings of soldiers, praise God, graffiti. Second quarries are reused in mushroom places. You can see the remains of the culture of the mushroom into stacks.

People of Bazemont also operated quarries in manufacturing lime from limestone. A furnace that access was by way of Grignens are still at the bottom of the valley Rogère.

source: Website of the City of Bazemont

Picture symbolizing love between cleaner and tagers, done for the 50 years of a law prohibiting going undergrounds. Thanks to my model.

In the quarries of the 16th in Paris, in the Palais de Chaillot. These quarries have been called "catacombs Trocadero" because a part was used in the Universal Exhibition of 1900 to show the public the geology of the basement. Height 55 feet 4 inches / 17 Metes 8693 (as printed on the wall)

We call these underground quarries "quarries of Chaillot". The size of these quarries was 12 acres originally, but now it remains only a small network of underground tunnels. At Expo 1900, we used a small portion of the underground galleries to present the work of mining and underground quarries. A prototype of the Channel Tunnel was also conducted.

Quarries of Paris - The network located in the Val de Grace hospital.

Beside the stairs Mansart, whose name was chosen in reference to the architect François Mansart, author of many works of consolidation in the hospital of Val de Grace.

A plate shows the depth of the underground quarry with great precision: Height 58 feet 6 inches or 18 meters 9969.

Quarries of Saint-Cloud, in the Trocadero Park

The underground quarries of Saint-Cloud (of coarse limestone) are used as building stone. The grand facade of the Colonnade of the Louvre is partly made with this stone. The rest comes from the underground quarry of Saint-Leu Esserent. It also used the stone to build the castle of Saint-Cloud, located a few tens of meters from the quarry.

The walls of building quarry were partially dismantled to get new stones. They were used to renovate the castle of Saint-Cloud in the 19th century. However, the consequences of a large fire, the foundations were razed. The stones stolen are become useless.

First steps in quarry until his last run, each cataphile notes an improvement in his behavior in the undergrounds. The route passes through several phases where his attitude toward the place, other individuals and especially in relation to itself will evolve.

Step 1: The disease of quarries.

It starts with a proposed descent. Through a friend or media, the neophyte becomes aware of the existence of a city under the city. Torn between the desire for exoticism and fear of the unknown, he went to the rendez-vous. In front of a bar or in front a subway, a diverse group waiting for him. They have all worn and dirty uniforms, each carrying packs of beer in hand, the other monstrous sacks on their shoulders. During the walk to the quarry, the main game is to scare again, both by sadism but also to test it and avoid it falters once inside.

Because everyone knows the strange disease that threatens the neophyte: The disease of quarries. As one who fears seasick when he sets foot on a boat, the apprentice will distressed by the entrance of the cave. Only after twenty meters underground to think he tons of rocks that overlook and threaten. Add to that the narrowness of the galleries, the disorientation and the inability to find the exit in this hellish labyrinth and you get a malaise that will fade with the times. At the exit, greatly relieved to be whole, the beginner will be happy to have survived such an adventure. Most will never return and not deviate from the quarry. Some however will want to repeat the experience and come away with the attack of subterranean depths.

Step 2: Thirst discovery.

Finally, the long-awaited map is formally placed in the hands trembling with emotion of the beginners. The first explorations where the latter takes the responsibility for guiding difficult: The errors and half-turns are frequent. Few were self-taught in this area, learning to move in an underground quarry is not obvious. But the excitement of discovering a new world is huge: There are so many things to see that often runs beyond the required time. At this stage, the cataphile often integrates a group of friends who will evolve. This is the beginning for some the desire to be recognized by his peers.