Armistice Day Arriving

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The 94th anniversary of the end of World War One is coming up on November 11th, a national holiday here in France. A fitting time to post a few photos from a couple of sites I had the good fortune to visit recently, thanks to a chance meeting at a stone quarry in the middle of nowhere with two gentlemen also interested the history of what was called "la Grande Guerre"... the Great War. Near the town of Noyon the ruins of a chapel destroyed during the war still remain, with a cast iron Christ within which fell during the shelling. As he suffered some 2000 years ago, so too did his replica suffer nearly 100 years ago in this chapel which stood immediately adjacent to the trenches of the front lines. It is surprising the sculpture was not more heavily damaged, as artillery shells fell like rain in that area.
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More cast iron work in the chapel, with autumn colors, and the iron Crucifixion figure at upper left.
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In the cemetery at Thiescourt, also near the front lines, a memorial to those dreadful years... 1914 to 1918.
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The gate to the German cemetery at Thiescourt.
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During the first world war the German army allowed soldiers of Jewish faith to serve. Things would change not long thereafter.
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"To the memory of Henri Bruge. Born the 1st of February 1882 at Ergues in the Pas de Calais, Adjutant Chef in the 4th Regiment of Cuirassiers, died for France, reported missing in action at Plémont on 9 June1918, awarded the War Cross with silver star and the Military Medal posthumously"
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At the entrance to the old stone quarries near Dreslincourt, occupied by the Germans for three years during the war. They left Gothic inscriptions carved on the outside stone walls, later shattered when they tried to blow up a nearby entrance to the quarry. The words carved here were part of a poem, saying :
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"The world might be torn apart
Every oath like straw
I know a word like iron
It's called soldiers loyalty"
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In German "soldiers loyalty" was one word : Soldatentreu
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Another German sign carved above an entrance to the stone quarries, a labyrinthine series of tunnels that go on for kilometers underground... it would be very easy to get lost in there. I was lucky to have a good guide who knew the place well.
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Graffiti from the war years... they didn't have spray paint cans back then, so they carved instead.
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In the woods outside unexploded artillery shells can still be found lying about. Chilling reminders of the not so distant past here.
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An imperial eagle carved on an exterior quarry wall.
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More German, to the effect that the German soldiers feared only God.
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Inside the miles of tunnels there were signposts, here indicating the way to the Command Post Calypso.
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Boots from the war still remain undisturbed deep in the tunnels.
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A wonderful French rooster carved on a wall to honor the 324th Infantry Regiment.
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Near one of the entrances to the quarry tunnels.
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German barbed wire from the war, rusting but still ready to unroll and use apparently. Maybe a bit fragile now, but still looking nasty.
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More artillery shells found in farm fields nearby, waiting to be collected by the munitions disposal service which still remains busy nearly 100 years later.
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Poetry Spotted In Passing . . .

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What's not to love about a window like this one ?
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Or a door like this ?
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Or a hand-painted wall ?
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Or a sign like this ?
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Seems to be a lot of visual poetry out there yet.
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Forbidden Factory Fruits . . .

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While in Italy in June, we were out wandering around one afternoon when we stumbled on an abandoned factory purely by chance. I had been secretly hoping something like this might happen, but it remained a sort of distant hope, as I hadn't done any research, and we weren't actively seeking such places. But if we didn't find it, it certainly found us.
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I took a first long look at it under a blue Italian sky, took in the gutted windows and collapsing roof, and said, "yes, yes indeed, this is exactly what I've been looking for..."
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And it seemed to answer by giving off a flare of burnt sienna golden light . . .
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A smokestack stood still in a field gazing up through its one good eye at the heavenly blue depths of the sky...
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The geometry of abandoned architecture stood stark in the streaming late afternoon sunlight...
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A gaping green door was beckoning, partially obscured by brambles...
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I fought my way through to find myself in someone's living room, the sofa had seen better days...
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They had lawn chairs, and even a television set...
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Windows had been bricked up, blocking a bit of the view...
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Odd gadgets hung from the walls...
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Perilous stairs led to upper levels, not for the faint of heart...
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A work of modern art caught my full attention, Pollock could hardly have done better...
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Floor tiles partially covered by debris formed more modern art...
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From the highest floor visible in the first photo above, a room with a view...
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More perilous stairs...
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Heaven only knows what went on in a box like this, perhaps better not to know...
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On the upper floors one had to be very careful where one stepped, as holes like this were plentiful, often with long drops below them...
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More geometry of the abandoned, in subtle colors...
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The end of a roof...
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No smoking...
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I don't know exactly what was in this large pile of paper sacks, I wasn't tempted to get too close or to stir up the dust on the floor...
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If photographed with infrared film I imagined they might have appeared almost radioactive...
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Some kind soul had left a message, a statement, a wish ?
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Tale From A Crypt . . .

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It's funny how one thing leads to another in life. By a series of chance coincidences a few years ago now, early on in the blogging days, I came across TomB's blog on blogger, and was seduced by the quality of his photography and especially his choices of subject matter. Sometimes things just resonate. His blog migrated to a Tumblr site, which is active today, and where the excellent work continues to appear, following his trips to a wide variety of sites where abandon is the key word, and his photography of them is poetry in practice. Lest I wax over enthusiastic in use of superlatives, I shall refrain from further praise, and simply encourage you to go take a look for yourselves. But thanks to his blog, and exchanges of comments there, little by little a correspondence developed, so when I was in the USA in 2010, we were able to meet for a day, and go visit two abandoned factories in Pennsylvania, about which I blogged about at the time, and he kindly, very kindly, gave me information which allowed me to visit a third site on my own, a coal breaker factory, which has also appeared in these pages. So when I learned that Tom and his travelling companion Jennifer would be in Europe on whirlwind tour of London, Paris, Germany, Belgium and Holland in May, it was only natural that we should try to meet again. Thus on a sunny Saturday afternoon two weeks ago, we set up a rendez-vous near the northwest entrance to Père Lachaise Cemetery, and were able to spend two hours strolling in that vast open air museum, before spending the evening over drinks and dinner in the 5th. So Tom and Jennifer, what can I say, it was wonderful to see you, and I hope the entire trip was full of good times and great photo locations. By the way, Jennifer, also is active on the web, her vintage business is thriving; you can see more of her work here on Sally Jane Vintage and here on her Flickr page... enjoy.
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We wandered in Père Lachaise seeking out some notable tombs such as Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, and Oscar Wilde, but also just randomly looking for the exquisite details which abound there... like these old ceramic flowers, or a pelican sculpture which I'd never noticed before.
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It seems the latest fad at Jim Morrison's tomb, since it became forbidden to cover adjacent tombs with graffiti, is to stick chewing gum on the tree just in front of his grave, often with a cryptic message imprinted in the gum. This is fairly recent, as the tree in question wasn't covered with gum like this the last time I was there, and photographed a bit of graffiti written on the bark in black marker. I don't know what the tree thinks of this "decoration".
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Speaking of one thing leading to another in life; with Tom over dinner we were talking about other people who are passionate about abandoned buildings and photography of such places, the realm of urban exploration. One site we talked about is the fabulous Opacity project, to which there has been a link in my sidebar for a long time, but following our conversation, I went back and took a look to refresh my memory. During which visit I stumbled on a report about a location in Belgium, which is the page linked to here, where there is a large underground burial area beneath a cemetery. This is far more than just a small crypt below ground, it is composed of several gallery tunnels that stretch out for some considerable distance, which are lined with hundreds of burial chambers in the walls, each covered with an engraved plaque. On the Opacity page it is referred to as "La Crypte des Fleurs", and the location is not revealed, but there is a link from Opacity to another urban exploration website called Forbidden Places, where there is also a report about the site in question, titled the Abandoned Crypt. Although he does not name the community where the cemetery is located, he does provide a map link, where it is clearly indicated. With that information in hand, I went looking for the place this past Friday, when I had to be in Belgium for work for a day... and was thrilled to be able to find it, and to be able to descend into the underground crypt and return with photographs of this extraordinary and highly unusual cemetery.
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Already just the above ground part was well worth a good stroll around. Near the far rear of the grounds there is a large copy of Rodin's Thinker installed on a tomb, the likes of which I've never seen in a cemetery before. And there were many other remarkable sculptures and portrait photos, which I could have spent hours exploring and photographing, a few examples of which follow here, but I was focused on finding the underground section, which took me some time to finally locate.
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But at last I stumbled on a ramp going down below ground, not all that far from the main cemetery entrance, which I hadn't gone by on my way in, as I'd set off in another direction. There were barriers in front of the entrance, but nothing flagrantly saying "No Entry", and nothing to deter a curious visitor, so I ventured down the ramp to take my chances. And no regrets, as the underground crypt is a most remarkable place, have never seen anything quite like it. Many beautiful old portrait photos in varying states of photographic decay there, and many fascinating stories glimpsed on the plaques covering the chambers in the walls. Heartfelt thanks to Opacity, Forbidden Places, and especially TomB who was again the catalyst here. More photos to come, as soon as time allows. Which may not be for a little while, as will be travelling in Italy in the coming weeks.
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