FRANCE – Paris, Les Catacombes & Coltrival // Moonraker (1979)
Parts of the “Moonraker” rocket station are set in a subterranean maze. The location is partly a studio set and partly a real place: the Paris underground.
Why Bond was here
Space megalomaniac Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) is up to kill all mankind and then re-populate it in space. James Bond (Roger Moore) follows him to his hidden base deep inside the South American jungle – that had partly been staged at Parisian park Bois du Boulogne and the ruins of Tikal in Guatemala. But with the base comes also a vast underground maze. It is partly a studio set – and partly a real location underneath Paris.
Quarry Mine goes Rocket Launchpad: Drax’ Underground Station
How you gonna get there
The scene with the huge stone tunnels had been filmed at the Paris underground in the northeast part of the city called Livry-Gargan. There is a former gypsum quarry called Coltrival, just off Rue de Vaujours. The area is closed to the public, but you may get a glimpse from the sealed entry gate.
To get there from the city center one can take metro line 5 to “Bobigny – Raymoud Queneau” and then bus 147 till “Place de la Libération”. The bus ride is roughly 40 minutes, then it’ll take just some minutes on foot. Another way is to the RER speed train B to the airport and get of at “Sevran-Beaudottes” and then also bus 147 for a 20 minutes ride to “Place de la Libération”.
Good to know
The Paris underground is a vast network of abandoned quarries and tunnels – known as “les carrières de Paris”. The mine and quarries were used to mine for gypsum and limestone. Most of the quarries date back to the 17th century, some even to the late 13th century. Today, most of the area is closed to the public, just like the Coltrival quarry, which was used for filming in “Moonraker”. Is is highly forbidden to trespass, but often underground raves are held here. The city even has a special police unit to patrol the Paris underground.
But there is one option for people to visit the area: les catacombes de Paris. The catacombs are a network of mines turned ossuaries, which hold the remains of more than six million people. The skulls and bones were gathered to lighten the city’s overflowing cemeteries in the late 18th century – at a time when the French Revolution took its toll.
Today the catacombs are a tourist attraction that gives visitors an idea of the huge Paris underground network. At the entry a sign reads Arrête! C’est ici l’empire de la Mort (“Stop! This is the empire of death”) – then the tunnels ensue into a small maze of walls built of skulls and gates structures with bones. It is highly recommended to book a ticket in advance to avoid waiting in line.
We entered the morbid tunnels with our three-year-old and were a bit curious on how she will take it. Websites recommended to stay away with small children. At the end, it wasn’t a problem at all: We educated our daughter on what a cemetery is and how to behave on the one hand – and allowed her to go on an “adventure” on the other hand. Equipped with flashlights we hunted for old engravings and signs on the walls, finding graffiti dating back to 1783.
© 2021 Huntingbond (1,3), © 1979 Danjaq S.A. (2)