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All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

  2. Patrimoine
  3. Hauts-de-France
  4. Aisne
  5. 02290 Berny-Rivière

  6. Career of Chapeaumont

Career of Chapeaumont à Berny-Rivière dans l'Aisne

Aisne

Career of Chapeaumont

    Route Sans Nom
    02290 Berny-Rivière
Photo de Career of Chapeaumont

Timeline

XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1900
2000
12 octobre 1915
Execution of Edith Cavell
juin 1916
First phase of the chapel
automne 1916
Second phase of the chapel
janvier 1917
Completion of the chapel
17 juillet 2000
Registration for historical monuments
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The chapel; the bas-reliefs: Lord Kitchener, Miss Edith Cavell, the telephone booth (ca

Key figures

Lord Kitchener - English Minister of War (1914) Represented in sculpture in the career.
Edith Cavell - British Nurse Resistant Rocketed in 1915, carved in the quarry.
L. Leclerc - Architect and soldier Signed engravings in the chapel.
Th. Roure - Sculptor and soldier Author of certain works of the career.
A. Livebardon - Sculptor and soldier Participated in the sculptures of the site.
L. Chalavan - Sculptor and soldier Signed achievements in the chapel.

Origin and history

The Chapeaumont quarry is a former underground limestone farm located in the Bois de Chapeaumont, north of the village of Berny-Rivière (Aisne). Active since the Gallo-Roman era, it was reused during World War I as shelter by French soldiers. They dug a chapel directly into the rock, in three distinct phases: June 1916, autumn 1916 and January 1917. This underground building, remarkable for its size and artistic quality, is one of the few testimonies of this type still preserved today.

Inside the quarry, several sculptures accompany the chapel, including representations of "Lord Kitchener" (English Minister of War 1914), "Miss Edith Cavell" (British nurse shot in 1915) and a "telephone booth". These works, made by fighters — including an architect named L. Leclerc and sculptors such as Th. Roure, A. Livebardon and L. Chalavan — were listed as historical monuments in 2000. The Chapel of Chapeaumont is one of the 30 underground chapels known for its layout and exceptional state of conservation.

The site illustrates both the ingenuity of soldiers to humanize their environment during the conflict and the symbolic dimension of these achievements. The engravings and bas-reliefs, signed by their authors, offer a poignant testimony of life in quarries-transformed-in-home. Today, Chapeaumont's career continues to be a place of memory linked to the First World War, accessible to the public and protected for its historical and artistic value.

External links

Page Wikipedia
Page Monumentum