Between 1810 and 1815, the works supervisors of the Inspection des carrières set up small underground museums, the mineralogical cabinets, in the galleries beneath Paris. The initiative came from Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury, inspector general of the quarries. The first was assembled in less than a fortnight by Gambier-Lapierre; the other site foremen followed his example, without the administration having to incur the slightest expense.
Mr Guérinet was one of them, a site supervisor at the Inspection. Héricart de Thury mentions his collection in 1815, in his Description des catacombes de Paris. There were six mineralogical cabinets and one osteological cabinet, devoted to bones.
A geological staircase
The principle lies in a staircase. Each step holds a sample of one of the layers passed through, from the topsoil down to the level of the quarry, and the whole reproduces the geological section of the exact spot where the cabinet is installed. The name of the layer and its actual thickness were stencilled on the risers. Around it, display stands held fossils, concretions and old tools.
The Guérinet cabinet stands out for its two straight, parallel staircases. It also remained unfinished: its steps never received the stencilled markings that identify the layers in the other cabinets.
The 2010 concrete
Already partly backfilled, the cabinet was engulfed in October 2010 by a blind-poured concrete injection that rose right up to the ciel de carrière, that is, to the ceiling. It has since been completely cleared by cataphiles.
Sources: L.-É. Héricart de Thury, “Description des catacombes de Paris”, 1815; SAGA Information no. 282, 2008
This tour is part of the catalogue of virtual tours of underground heritage.
