An Art Repository

11/2011

Visited with Vicki, Amyrumi, Blober and Phil

Searching for an adit to a mine that you have never been to before in the fog is never a good idea. However, with a working mine, the cover of fog can only add to the chances of you completing this trip. After wandering around in the quarry pit for half an hour, Vicki finally managed to spot the adit. The place is only small in size, but it's what they used to stored here which was interesting. 

History

"In 1940 when London was faced with intensive bombing by the Luftwaffe every night, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was very concerned for the safekeeping of Britain's art treasures and he issued an order for them to be moved from the museums and art galleries in London.The priceless treasures were transported to a mountain which had been specially heated and ventilated to maintain the correct temperature.
The secret hiding place was eventually revealed many years after the end of World War II.
All the royal pictures from the palaces, from the Tate and the National Gallery were transported to north Wales. They travelled to north Wales in vehicles disguised as delivery vehicles for a chocolate company and were put in the care of the quarry manager, and were only ever seen by him. It is said that the worry of the responsibility shortened his life. The caves were leased by the Government for 40 years, but when the lease expired in 1981, the Government refused to release the lease. For 40 years two brothers were employed to maintain the ventilation system, even though the works of art were returned to London and the wartime storage place was empty. Behind the large steel and timber doors is a tunnel 1,200 feet long, 1,000 feet below the top of the mountain. The caves used for the safe storage are over 200 feet high, as high as a cathedral.