Musée du Village Troglodytique de Rochemenier

The village of Rochmenier in the Loire Valley region of France consists of 250 underground rooms excavated out of the rock and distributed over around 40 farms. The oldest habitation apparently dates back to the 13th century. The village expanded right up to the 19^th century.

Two carefully restored farms, which were inhabited till around 1911, were first opened to the public in 1967.

The dwellings are dug out of the sandstone rock which contains sea shells. The rock is a kind of calcareous sand which the troglodytes used to neutralise the soil on the flat farm land above their dwellings. The restored farms exhibit barns, a wine cellar complete with press, stable, bedroom, dining room, small courtyard, village hall and underground chapel. Furniture tools and photographs help to give a good insight into the daily lives of the cave-dwellers.

Tuffeau stone and shelly sand are rocks of marine origin and are 90 million and 11 million years old respectively and made up of fossils. A fossil room forms part of the exhibit.

First a yard was excavated, a kind of roofless quarry, then rooms and passages were carved into the rock, creating the underground dwellings where people lived, worked, sheltered their animals and kept their belongings. The restoration work has made this site an interesting informative and worthwhile place to visit if in the area.

For more information visit:- www.troglodyte.fr and https://vimeo.com/69342227 for a video tour.

Susan Osborne

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This photo taken in 1911 made me look twice! Village inhabitants circa 1911 Main courtyard with barns machinery and dwellings Underground passages

The trog couple look kind of familiar don’t you think?

I wonder who they remind me of…