Dug only by hand, the Underground City of Naours takes you back into the eerie lives of WW1 soldiers (per La Cité Souterraine de Naours). In July 1916, the first Australian soldiers to come to France visited Naours as tourists, leaving mysterious graffiti on the hidden city’s walls (per France.fr).
The darkness and heavy air in the caves and tunnels can send shivers down your spine, while the 3,000 examples of graffiti drawn by suffering First World War soldiers make you question who really benefits from wars.
Around 1,800 were drawn by a mix of Australian, French, English, Irish, Scottish, and American soldiers, while over 600 remain unidentifiable.
The Underground City of Naours served as an organized tour destination during the Great War, as a way to distract soldiers on leave or convalescent behind the front lines.
Today, the cave network is considered the largest known concentration of World War I inscriptions on the Western Front.
The darkness and heavy air in the caves and tunnels can send shivers down your spine, while the 3,000 examples of graffiti drawn by suffering First World War soldiers make you question who really benefits from wars.
Around 1,800 were drawn by a mix of Australian, French, English, Irish, Scottish, and American soldiers, while over 600 remain unidentifiable.
The Underground City of Naours served as an organized tour destination during the Great War, as a way to distract soldiers on leave or convalescent behind the front lines.
Today, the cave network is considered the largest known concentration of World War I inscriptions on the Western Front.