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RELEASE OF THE BOOK “LES SECRETS DU GOUFFRE DE PADIRAC”

PUBLISHED BY ALBIN MICHEL ON JUNE 12

DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE GOUFFRE DE PADIRAC !

From the discovery of this underground site by Edouard-Alfred Martel in 1889 to the ever-growing number of visitors today (over 525,000 a year), Tristan Gaston-Breton tells the story of the rise of the Gouffre de Padirac, now Europe's most famous cave. In a captivating narrative, the author reveals the story of a pioneering 19th-century company, known today as one of the flagships of French tourism.

Release of the book published by albin michel on june 12.

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THE WORK OF A CORPORATE HISTORIAN

Tristan Gaston-Breton is a historian specializing in economic history and French companies. He is the author of the series devoted to the history of major companies published each year by the newspaper Les Echos. To write Les secrets du Gouffre de Padirac, he immersed himself in over 130 years of archives of the Société d'Exploitations Spéléologiques de Padirac. At the same time, he conducted extensive interviews to retrace the history and highlights of the more contemporary years of operation, revealing the difficulties overcome and future projects.

THE STORY OF AN EXTRAORDINARY ENTREPRENEURIAL ADVENTURE

In 1889, Edouard-Alfred Martel, a Parisian lawyer with a passion for underground exploration, made his greatest discovery: the Gouffre de Padirac. From that moment on, he was driven by a single desire: to share this new world with the general public. Without banks willing to follow him in this avant-garde project, the story could have ended there. But chance found a man in his path, Georges Beamish, from a family of Irish brewers, who was also director of an advertising and travel company. An “advertising and travel specialist” who found E.-A. Martel's presentation folder forgotten in the back of a carriage. And so began a new adventure full of twists and turns: the creation of the Société d'Exploitation du Gouffre de Padirac. 

 

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