Underground Wonders of the World
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Denfert-Rochereau Ossuary -- l'Empire de la Mort
Paris, France
Paris is a shockingly large city. There are many excellent points from which to view the panorama, including the Montparnasse Tower, Sacré Coeur, the Eiffel Tower, or Notre Dame. But this mysterious city conceals a great secret beneath its streets. Underneath Paris you can discover abandoned limestone quarries. These underground tunnels date back to the Roman period, when quarries were created to obtain building stone. Part of the tunnels were turned into a mass tomb near the end of the 18th century, when the Les Halles district was suffering from disease, due to contamination caused by improper burials and mass graves in churchyard graveyards. It was decided to remove the bones and place them in the quarries. Nowadays only a portion of the catacombs (that is about a mile) is officially open to the public. The access to the least 186 miles is forbidden. Nevertheless, there exist secret entrances, sewers, or manhole covers, through which one can find ways to illegally visit the other parts of The Catacombs. In 2004, an underground movie theater was discovered by the French police.
West Norwood Cemetery
London, England
West Norwood Cemetery is one of the metropolitan cemeteries founded in the early 19th century. It was opened in 1837. It has 65 Grade II and Grade II listed monuments and includes memorials to Mrs Beeton, Sir Henry Doulton, Dr William Marsden, Baron Julius de Reuter, Charles Spurgeon and Sir Henry Tate. The catacombs consist of a wide vaulted spine corridor. There are a number of vaults with intricate wrought iron gates opening onto this central corridor. There is also a stairway, now blocked at ceiling level. There are eight narrower passages containing gated vaults, some of have been shelved and stacked with coffins while others remain unused and empty. By law all burials not actually in the ground must be in lead lined coffins. Much of the wood has rotted over the years but generally the lead lined boxes within are intact although a few have been vandalised.
Ozark Caverns
Ozarks, Midwest
Ozark Plateau contains over 4,500 known caves. Most of these are undeveloped, eight of them are open for tours. Here you experience adventure, see beautiful calcite formations and view fossil remains of creatures from the past.
The Labyrinth under the Castle Hill
Budapest, Hungary
The labyrinth of caves and tunnels stretches for over 10 kilometres beneath Castle Hill. It contains huge, cavernous rooms. One section even features reproductions of cave paintings from around Europe. It is believed that the caves and tunnels have been joined together by the Turks during the middle ages for military purposes. Later, parts of the catacombs were used to store wine. During World War II it served as an air-raid shelter. Nowadays, it is open to the general public.
Milestii Mici wine Cellars
Milestii Mici, Moldova
Milestii Mici is the largest in Europe wine cellar complex. It stretches for 250km, of which only 200km are currently in use. It contains over two millions bottles of highly appreciated wine. Its storage capacity is more than 6.5 million decalitres of wine stored in oak barrels and in the special enameled metal tanks. The wines stored here are made from the crops of various years from 1968 to 1991. The spirit of the age is very well felt here in this underground wine city, emerging from wide tunnels. You can pass through these 200 kilometers of natural lime galleries by car.
Magic Kingdom Tunnels
Orlando, Florida
Magic Kingdom was built over a huge underground complex - a huge underground tunnel system that connects all of the Kingdom to an employee cafeteria, dressing rooms, payroll offices, the bus to the employee parking lot, breakrooms, and more. This system is really huge and even employees get lost in them. The tunnel complex originates from the castle and spreads out like spokes from a wheel to the other lands. In fact, the bottom two floors of the castle consist of the tunnel complex.
Coober Pedy Underground Dwelling
Coober Pedy, Australia
Of all the opal mining towns in Australia there is none quite like Coober Pedy. The oddest thing about Coober Pedy are the underground dwellings. About 70 percent of Coober Pedy’s 3,500 residents live underground in caves bored into the hillsides. A standard three bedroom cave home with lounge, kitchen, and bathroom can be excavated out of the rock in the hillside for a similar price to a house on the surface. It’s simple survival, since summer temperatures soar above 55 degree Celsius. The boroughs remain at a constant temperature, whereas surface living needs air-conditioning, especially during the summer months, when temperatures often exceed 40 degrees Celsius.
