Paper mills are based Landes November 8, 1927. At the time, the paper needs are important and France imports a lot of paper. The plant produces between 12 and 15 tons of paper. In 1934, the plant is in bankruptcy. Another company bought the paper industrial plant (pine cellulose). The mill changed its name to the company of stationers Roquefort.

At maximum activity, the factory employed 500 people in the manufacture of paper and kraft paper. In 1975, the company produces 125 tons of paper per day.

On June 28, 1978, the company ceases all activities and selling buildings. Other buildings are leased to small businesses. 20 years later, there were still huge abandoned buildings. Nobody made the decision to destroy them because it cost too much.

source: Website of Yves Roumazeilles(FR/EN)

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!

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.

The sports stadium in Bordeaux was built from 1959 to 1966. It is up to the late 1970s, used as major sporting events but in 1979, the city transforms the room with acoustic treatment. The sports hall can accommodate singers. Today is a secondary hall of the Opera of Bordeaux and there is more sporting events in this room.

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.

Quarries of Paris - The mineralogical showroom on Rue Saint Jacques.

The most famous staircase of Paris. One of the showroom mineralogical layers of Rue Saint Jacques. It has been degraded and restored many times. One thing is sure. It was there before us. It will be there after (even for the weak).

This room was called the Grand Rex because of his height and the sloping floor in tiers remembers a famous parisian movie theater. In winter, there are many bats in this quarry, thank you not to disturb them!

A view of the curtains of the roof of an art deco building 37 street of the Louvre. This building was built in 1934 by the architect Fernand Leroy and Jacques Cury to accommodate both newspapers Paris-Midi and Paris-Soir. Five years later, two million newspapers are coming out of the printing press in the basement of the building. The construction, modern, is fully planned for the implementation of newspapers. There is even a big diesel engine provided electricity in case of power failure. The upper floors are the most beautiful terraces where guests are received in peace, enjoying the magnificent view.
But like any business in the world war two who worked with german army, management changes hands for the release and communists newspapers took in commands: Ce Soir, Liberation, National Front (far left a newspaper) and humankind. Later Dawn and the Figaro will merge in 1985. It is said that some nights where humanity and the Figaro had printed, we brushed the confusion of pages.
This ship (as some people called the building) has been completely renovated from 2007 to 2008 and was included in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments. Some renovations are debatable but you can not stop progress.

Quarries of Paris - The tomb of Philibert Aspairt

On the tomb is inscribed:
In memory of Filiberto Aspairt lost in this career 3 November 1793 after eleven years and found buried there April 30, 1804.

Philibert Aspairt is probably the porter of the hospital of Val de Grace. Was found on him a bunch of keys. But this time it was the French Revolution and its disappearance has troubled person.

Philibert was found 50m from an exit.

The construction of the castle Regnéville-sur-Mer dates from the ninth century. The castle was the witness of many battles between French and English during the Hundred Years War. In the 17th century, the fortress was destroyed by order of Cardinal Richelieu. One wall of the castle flew to the bottom of the church. Today, there are only very little of the original castle (there is a tower collapsed at half) but this crypt is still beautifully preserved.