Whale and "faluns" in Doué-la-Fontaine

A unique site in France

Do you know "the smoking fields"? This is the nickname that was given to this area where, in the nineteenth century, an entire neighborhood lived in cellars, and where only the chimneys were visible! The last inhabitants left the area in 1976 and the municipality bought it to create a heritage center, thus creating a unique environmental site in France.
Taking into account all the richness of the commune, it has equipped itself with a service Animation of the heritage which proposes all to the whole of visits and activities.

 

"The mystery of the faluns

This is a journey through time that cannot leave one indifferent... think that here in Maine-et-Loire, elephants were walking quietly among antelopes that kept an eye open, nevertheless, on the quite prehistoric tiger! Lie down by the shallow sea, where white sharks and whales lived, and where you will meet a real specimen from the depths of time!
Little by little, an underwater dune was created, agglomerating sand and animal remains to create this local shell rock: these are the "faluns", which, much, much later, were extracted to make sarcophagi, for example, and then building stones. Huge caves were thus dug by man, real troglodyte cathedrals that can be visited today.

Indeed, it is proposed a course which will make you discover the flora of the Miocene, the ball of the jellyfish, a whale which dreams of the hidden depths of the sea, a school of fish, the memory of falun, etc., all these scientific elements being inscribed in a fairy-like scenography!

 


Troglodyte cathedrals of Les Perrières
545, Rue des Perrières
49700 Doué-la-Fontaine
Tel : 02 41 59 71 29


www.les-perrieres.com


https://le-mystere-des-faluns.com/

 

Tourist office
30, Place des Fontaines
Doué-la-Fontaine
49700 Doué-en-Anjou
Phone : 02 41 59 20 49

 

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

(free version)

 


To go further....

Les troglodytes en Val de Loire

Click on the image

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