Tunnel vision in French underground

ARRAS, in the Pas-de-Calais, has the rat as its symbol. Grain stored there in medieval times attracted the rodents and, perhaps, ‘un rat’ was a pun on the city’s name.

Nowadays, however, the final ‘s’ in ‘Arras’ is pronounced. Photographs taken during the Great War show a totally devastated townscape; rats must have thrived there as they did in the nearby trenches.

The pulverised squares of Arras have been magnificently restored. The place in now an architectural gem, boasting two UNESCO World Heritage listings; the ornate belfry and the huge Citadelle, created by Louis XIV’s military architect, Vaubon. Maximilian de Robespierre is the town’s most famous son.