There are a thousand brazen and desperate criminals out there. They’ll do anything, from stealing alligators to hurling dangerous hedgehogs. If you’re not careful, they’ll even break into one of your country’s foremost national monuments and do restoration work!
The Pantheon in Paris is one of the world’s foremost burial chambers, and an incredibly beautiful neoclassic cathedral. Among the famous folks buried there are Marie and Pierre Curie, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Louis Braille, and Voltaire. (I’ve actually been there, and the building is really incredible. One of the most gorgeous buildings in one of the most beautiful places in Paris)
Since the 1960’s, an antique clock had been left rusting and in disrepair in the building, and a French organization called the Untergunther had finally had enough. These self-proclaimed cultural guerillas found a side entrance and spent a year painstakingly restoring the clock to working order without leaving behind any incriminating candy wrappers. They’re still at it, working on another secret restoration project somewhere in the city they love.
I know what they’re doing is technically illegal, but I don’t even think the French could look down their noses at this organization. They’re not hurting anyone; merely restoring something that never should have been allowed to fall into disrepair in the first place. We need a little more of this kind of spirit in the United States, that’s for sure.
Tags: The Pantheon, Paris, crypt, trespassing, cultural guerrillas, Untergunther, UX, illegal restoration, monuments, unusual crimes, strange crimes, Lazar Klausmann, Jean-Baptiste Viot, Latin Quarter, France