***There is a secret gallery, unknown to the general public, nestling beneath the rooftops of the sumptuous "’Hotel des Invalides', in Paris. It contains nearly a hundred relief maps, models of towns, ports, arsenals and fortresses made in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, for the use of sovereigns and their military strategists. It is a place of memory, shortly to be turned into a museum.

Everything can be seen there. The tumbledown cottages and the chapels, the narrow alleyways and every stone of the fortifications, a hedge of poplars, the • most modest stream and the least cannon defending the citadel. The model of Cherbourg covers about 180 m2. Together with that of Brest, it is one of the biggest relief maps of a collection which has no equivalent in the world. .

It was created by Louis XIV. from 1668. at the proposal of his Minister of War. Louvois. and I he famous engineer Vauban. General Commissioner of Fortifications. The purpose was to be able to see. at a single glance, all the land and maritime strongholds scattered along the frontiers, at a time when France had Just conquered Flanders and was preparing to fortify the towns conquered.

Year by year, the collection grew richer In 1697. there were 14 1 relief maps whose function was both military and didactic with an immediate assessment of the strategic situation. a simulation of sieges and combats with a view to improving protective constructions, Inventing new ones and refining defence or attack plans.

In 1710. these extremely accurate reduced models were transferred from the royal apartments in the Tuileries to the Grand Gallery tn the Louvre where the king had his prestigious visitors admire what were called little marvels". Were they not proof of the power of the kingdom?

In 1777. the collection was moved to the former wheat granary in the attic of the Hotel des Invalides, where ft still is today. But Louis XVI was not interested In it and ft was no longer looked after.

With the Revolution. the relief maps became Important again and were national property When Napoleon set out to conquer Europe, he had new ones made But the way wars were waged changed. There were fewer sieges and more movement Topographical maps were needed and no longer models and so these slopped being made in thd 1870s.

ft is true that they were complex and expensive to make Military engineers took measurements and made maps and drawings from which skilled craftsmen built models using cleverly cut "tables' which could be assembled and dismantled easily and In which the Joints could not be seen. Flat areas were made of card board rugged terrain was carved out at solid pieces and everything was sprinkled wrth Wjnixture of sand and pow

Houses, public buildings and works of civil engineering were delicately carved and painted In detail Water courses.' lakes and the sea were painted in oil paints m different bines and greens de pending on tbe depth and the current. Trees and hedgerows were made of silk woven over wires Meadows and fields of crops were also made of silk which was finely shredded and mixed with sand.

Fortunately, the future of the collection has now b<-en ensured as a big relief map museum is being created, in the *UW place

Today, a temporary gallery holds exhibitions on themes and. every year about 200.000 visitors go there to admire these treasures of accuracy which not only evoke the history of military architecture but- also that of town and country planning They provide an instant three-dimensional snapshot of a town and its -surrounding countryside before the industrial era and the grouping together of land and before the development of the suburbs Perpignan in 1686 Saint -Tropaz in 1716. Antibes in 1747 Brest and its combination of farmland and woodlands hi 1811 Metz in 1825. Strasbourg in 1830. as well'as Antwerp • Corfu Rome

Tbe new museum is to open In 1994 for an Alice tn Wonderland style of guided tour

— L Actualtte En France