In France and in other countries, from age to age, men have dug the rock. They have taken stone, even more they have dug cave dwellings and refuges in order to hide themselves. There is a real underground world made by man: an unrecognized world full of history and hidden under the ground.

We invite you to discover it...

We are studying the artificial underground cavities, mainly the underground refuges ( souterrains-refuges) and the religious underground passages ( souterrains cultuels ).We are also interrested in the underground quarries, cave dwellings or troglodytic sanctuaries and more generally the underground world dug by man.

Concerned countries : mainly France, but also Turkey, Vietnam, Spain, Benin...

We give for each site a very precise topographical plan and we take pictures of the most significiant structures.

We have been working for about 40 years to make a list and numerous studies of such underground sites. Thanks to this research we understand better the function of the underground passages in France and in other countries (precisely the underground refuges and the ring shaped underground passages), their age and their use, also men who used them. We tried to reconstruct their life in the cavities.

All these researches led to books of thematic and regional synthesis and to a number of scientific publications.

Biography

Jérôme TRIOLET has a Doctorate in chemistry and is an engineer. Laurent TRIOLET is a holder of the "Agrégation" of the University (biology and geology) and has a Master of Science.

For some 40 years, they have studied together the underground world dug by man in France but also in Turkey, Spain, Vietnam or Benin. They have written many articles and more than ten books on the subject. They have given number of lectures and they have taken part in several documentary films. 

History

2024 A Photography Exhibition in Louvre Lens Museum on the occasion of the exhibition Subterranean Worlds.

2024 A Study tour to Austria.

2022 Publication: Des monuments sortis de l’ombre, les souterrains-refuges, Errance et Picard publishing house.

2018 A Study of Souterrains around Abomey (Benin).

2015 A Congress and a Study tour to Iran.

2014 A Study tour to Benin.

2012 A Study tour to Ireland.

2011 Publication: La guerre souterraine, Perrin publishing house.

2004 A Study tour to Vietnam.

2002 Publication: Souterrains et Croyances, Ouest-France publishing house.

1995-1999  Laurent TRIOLET is president of the French Society of Underground Studies ( Société Française d’Etude des Souterrains - SFES )

1993-1999  Jérôme TRIOLET is vice-president of the French Society of Underground Studies ( Société Française d’Etude des Souterrains - SFES )

1995  A Study of underground passages in cliff around Valencia ( Spain )

1995 Publication: Les Souterrains – le monde des souterrains-refuges en France, Errance publishing house.

1993 Publication: Les Villes Souterraines de Cappadoce, DMI publishing house.

1988   Directors of underground expedition in Cappadocia ( Turkey ), with the permission of the Turkish government, grant of the Ministry of Sport, industrial sponsors.

1987 Publication: Souterrains-refuges de Touraine, NR publishing house.

Members of  Commission on Artificial Cavities of the International Union of Speleology

Members of Conseil d’Administration de la SFES.

Members of Société Archéologique de Touraine.

Jérôme TRIOLET, member of Société des Antiquaires de l’Ouest.

Lectures

A number of lectures for general public or at the time of specialized congresses, in France and other countries:

Tehran, London, Aldersbach (Germany), Linz (Austria), Napoli, Torino (Italia), Beas de Guadix (Spain), Paris, Brantôme, Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, Saumur, Bordeaux, Niort, Cahors, Lavaur,  Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Loches, Aubeterre-sur-Dronne, Ruillé-sur-Loir, Seix, Veretz, Loudun, Ribérac, Saint-Rémy-sur-Creuse, Tours (France).

Watch a video

Movies

Depuis 40 ans, ils répertorient et explorent des souterrains…, report by Philippe Tanger et Garo Kevorkian, France 3 Centre-Val de Loire, 15 May 2025

Sur les chemins du Poitou mystérieux : dans les souterrains, report by François Bombard, Antoine Morel, Aurélie Grignard and Jennifer Russeil, France 3 Poitou-Charentes, 27 December 2017  

Watch the film

Des vies souterraines, documentary film by  Hakob Melkonyan (52 mn, 2017), a France Télévisions / Leitmotiv Production coproduction, © France Télévisions / Leitmotiv Production - 2017           

Vues sur Loire, report by Elise Charbey and Christophe Brousseau about  Art in quarries, France 3 Centre et Pays de la Loire

                                                                                                     Watch the film

A19, L’autoroute à remonter le temps, documentary film by  Stéphane Bégoin, France 5

 Watch the film

Découverte d'un souterrain sur le tracé de l'A19, documentary film by Stéphane Bégoin, Inrap-Gédéon programmes 2007       

                                                     Watch the film 

Chroniques de Loire, France 3 Centre

The detectives of the past, The great scientific enigma, program by the idea of François de Closets and Roland Portiche, France 2 (French TV).

Chroniques souterraines  documentary film by Jean Lassave and Nicolas Stern, L'Oeil du Cyclone, Canal+

Itinéraires insolites en Touraine documentary film by  Brigitte Lucas

Dans les profondeurs de l'Anjou documentary film by  Patrick Manain

Les noces souterraines de l'Anjou documentary film by  Patrick Manain

Radio programs

In the ring-shaped underground of Le Pin (Poitou, France), Report by Muriel Mérat in the radio program Les Forts en thème, Les trous sont partout, program by the idea of Muriel Mérat, produced by Patrick Lenoir and Martine Béguin, aired February 18, 2005 on Espace 2, Radio Suisse Romande (french language)

Press

Télévision : France 2, France 5, France 3, Planète, M6, Voyage, Odyssée (french Tv), SBS (south korean TV ).

Radio : France Culture, RFI, France Inter, France Bleue (France), NDR Hambourg (Germany), Radio Suisse Romande (Switzerland), Radio-Canada...

Newspapers and Magazines : Le Figaro magazine, La Recherche, Science et Vie, Science et Vie Junior, L’Archéologue, Moyen Age, La Nouvelle République, Ouest-France, Le Républicain Lorrain, Sud-Ouest, La Montagne, VSD, Archéologia, La Croix...

Images of the Underground World

During these many years of research across France and several countries of the world, we have built up a very varied Picture Library, rich in thousands of images concerning different facets of the Underground World Dug by Man: underground churches, cave dwellings, underground refuges, stone quarries, underground fauna, rocks, mushroom beds, underground cities, graffiti, war tunnels...

The Photo Library of this web site presents only an overview of our Image Bank, do not hesitate to contact us if you are looking for rare pictures on the Underground World Dug by Man.

Looking for informations, old pictures and testimonies

If you know something interesting or some legends about underground passages, please contact us.

We are also searching ancient  photos with :

- soldiers or civilians hidden in underground quarries or refuges during wars

- quarry men or men in mushroom beds working under the ground.

More generally, we are looking for all documents about life in the cavities made by man except the mines.