06/12/2012 - Stone quarries in France sheltered thousands of troops during World War I. Amid the carnage and the fear, French soldiers showed startling artistry by making wall carvings that conveyed their patriotism, their homesickness -- and their love of red wine. A local group is cataloguing the murals and campaigning to preserve them for posterity.
Deep in the cool, dank blackness of an underground limestone quarry in northern France stands an altar, carved from the wall by soldiers of the French army who sheltered here during World War I.
The dread they must have felt as they knelt here, under the inscription "Dieu Protege la France!" ("God Save France!"), is hard to imagine. A flight of steps next to the altar led to the trenches of the front line.
"People still come here to pray every Sunday," said Jean-Luc Pamart, a farmer who owns the land around here. "When they kneel here on this earth, the cold rises up their legs, it impregnates them. It gives them a sense of history."
The medieval limestone quarry of Confrécourt, close to the village of Nouvron-Vingré some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Paris, is a veritable art gallery of murals hewn into the rock by the troops.
There are some 500 such quarries between here and the town of Soissons less than 20 kilometers away, and all have wall carvings, says Pamart, 61, who is campaigning to obtain UNESCO World Heritage Site status for the sites. read more w/more photo's>>>
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