A long time ago, on a night, a group of six teenage girls and boys sneaked into the basement of the ministry of telecommunications by following a cable in a tunnel. Upon finding the building quite deserted, they stole a copy of each map of the citywide network of tunnels and walked out of the unguarded front door when they were done. Years later, they turned one of the hidden chambers into a movie theater that can only be described as a fantasy for any movie lover. Read on to find out about this secret underground theater and the mysterious group that built it.
In September 2004, during a training exercise in uncharted parts of the catacombs of Paris, the police discovered a secret fully equipped cinema that could house 20 viewers, a fully-stocked bar, a dining room, and a series of saloons along with professionally installed electricity and three telephone lines.Â
It was built by Les UX (the Urban eXperiment), an underground organization that secretly improves and restores hidden corners of Paris that are historically significant but fallen into repair because the government lacked funds. Around 100 of its members are highly skilled artists, architects, historians, and citizens with technical know-how. Image Source: wired
The UX has carried out many secret projects since its inception in September 1981 when the founders stole the plans of many underground passageways and tunnels in Paris. One of their projects is the restoration of the defunct Wagner clock from the 19th century in Pantheon right under the noses of the police and passersby. Whenever a policeman asked questions, they would flash an official-looking badge with a photograph, hologram of the Pantheon building, a microchip, and a barcode. The group has also restored much of the underground infrastructure and they are responsible for over a dozen other projects which the French government chose not to do for lack of funds.
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Three days later, when the police returned with experts from the French Board of Electricity for the formal investigation and to find out where the power came from, they found the cables cut and a note that said: “Ne cherchez pas” (“Do not search”).Image Source: ronnierocket.
Though Paris is famous for its underground tunnels and catacombs, only a small area of it is open to public access. The tunnels were once quarries with full of limestone in the outskirts of Paris. In time, the city expanded to a point where those quarries were beneath it, and about 200 miles of labyrinthine tunnels are believed to exist.
The UX membership is by invitation only and it is received by anyone who is already doing UX-like activities. The members spend on the restorations out of their own pockets. They are highly secretive about the projects and the ones revealed to the public so far were inadvertent consequences. Image Source: wired
Two of the UX’s projects revealed so far are the Pantheon clock and the underground cinema. In the case of the cinema, it was a bitter ex-girlfriend of one of the members who told the police. After the restoration of the Pantheon clock, the group made the mistake of notifying the building’s director, who was more shocked than being happy and hired a clockmaker to re-sabotage it to its previous state. Though they expected the authorities to happily take credit for these projects, charges were brought against four of its members who restored the clock. The judge, of course, ruled in the group’s favor, with one of the government’s prosecutors referring to the charges as “stupid”.