What will happen to the
"underground cathedral"
of Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine)?
Operated between 1870 and 1925, the Arnaudet underground chalk quarry should begin to be filled in June, due to a risk of collapse observed since 2017. A solution opposed by 300 demonstrators on Sunday.
Attached to the site classified as a historic monument since 1986, environmental activists, speleologists and other residents have asked for the current filling project carried out by the prefecture and the town hall to be abandoned.
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Major stumbling block of the project, in the eyes of the demonstrators and specialists, the choice of the method of securing the career would be unsuitable and disproportionate.
The choice of filling retained is the one that
“alters the site the most”
and presents
“greater risks of destabilizing unfilled galleries”.
"No to securing by filling which will make this network of galleries inaccessible"
, launched Sunday Magdalena Labbé, one of the opponents of the project, regretting
"the relentlessness of the city on this site"
.
Supported by Didier Merle, the president of the regional commission of geological heritage, the opponents defend the track of a
"Masonic comfort"
with pillars.
A disputed redevelopment
A study carried out by the public institute of risk expertise Ineris, confirmed that the quarries located under the Rodin hill could experience
“a general collapse”,
due to the deterioration of the support structures of the galleries.
"Weakened pillars could collapse
," say the experts.
The risk incurred
“requires the carrying out of security works”,
according to the prefecture.
The materials used for this filling will be
“strictly supervised
”
,
explains the prefecture, while emphasizing that the use of
“building waste”
or
“materials from tunnel boring machines is strictly prohibited”
.
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Another point of contention, the opponents suspect the municipality to push this work to
"consolidate a ground today unbuildable".
And then develop there, real estate projects, nose to beard of the eight kilometers of galleries dug in the chalk.
Endowed, in places, with ribbed vaults, the old quarry has been closed to the public since the 1970s but remains appreciated by geologists and cataphiles.
In April, the Council of State validated the project which plans to fill 45% of the galleries with 48,000 cubic meters of earth from the Ile-de-France sites.
This “partial”
filling
will leave accessible galleries that can give access to all geological, artistic, historical or ethnographic centers of interest, assured Friday the prefecture of Hauts-de-Seine.
After the works, a park will be created above the quarries.
This space
"will not be urbanized",
assures the prefecture which specifies that if the place is part of the current call for projects "Let's invent the Metropolis of Greater Paris 3"
,
the winning project
"will not overlook the classified site"
.