One of the longest corridor in the NATO bunker, toward the exit.

Old photograph of the quarries cable. The stone blocks were shipped down the hill with a kind of funicular.

Old photograph of the underground quarry of Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateau. The stone blocks are mounted on carriages, ready to be lowered to the bottom of the hill for shipping.

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

A beautiful medieval cellar cave excavated by some groups in the area. 1800 tons of debris have been removed to give a breath of life to those underground. These caves communicate with each other on a good part of the hill. They share an old quarry, very small, very pretty and beautifully preserved.

Source: words collected during Heritage Days 2008

Louis Renault is a talented engineer. He invented the direct transmission gear box and patented it in 1898. With his invention, he made a fortune and began a series of land acquisitions at Boulogne. Louis Renault bought the Ile Seguin in the late 20s. First it was supposed to be a recreation area for workers, it will eventually build a new plant next to existing ones. In November 1929, the new plant is inaugurated. Work will continue a few more years.

The Seguin Island plant is fully autonomous and ultra modern. The power plant is designed to operate with multiple fuels (coal or oil).

All the production of vehicles is centralized, but the engines are still being built across the Seine. Robert Doisneau tooked pictures of the spinning of asbestos, foundry metallurgical, workshop tire manufacturing, ...

In 1936, the Renault plant is a symbol of working class struggle with its largest concentration of strikers in France. His reputation will not be denied until the plant closure.

During WWII, the plant is working with the Nazis. Louis Renault gone to jail. The plant was nationalized and in 1947 the 4cv is the success of the National Board of the Renault. 10,000 workers employed on the island. 40,000 workers employed on the site.

During the events of 1968, the island is a symbol of unionism. Workers get more social advances.

The last models produced by the plant are the Super 5 and the Express (a commercial vehicle based on the Super 5). On March 31, 1992, the range and stops the plant closes, now too small to produce new models.

Abandoned the island to be destroyed. The yard is huge and companies are fighting for the tender. The main thing is forgotten: The site must be cleared. The power plant is full of asbestos and the entire basement of the island is bathed by many chemicals. While the plant was emptied in a few months, the destruction tooked 13 years.

source: Legag.com(FR)

The Sainte-Chapelle is a chapel built on the Ile de la Cité, in Paris, at the request of St. Louis to house the Holy Crown, a piece of the Holy Cross and various other relics of the Passion that he had acquired.

On the roof of the tallest building in the Renault factory on Ile Seguin. The latest model of car produced in this building was the Supercinq. Two huge cranes and many compressors are aligned on a hundred meters. Imagine that there is piping under there!

The ways of Railway Bridge Mulatière immediately rush into the hill through a tunnel.