There are a lot of blockhauses on the northern beaches of France.
One of the most original was perhaps the Leffrinckoucke mirror blockhaus. I say « was » because the artist has since removed the mirrors that covered the concrete for seven years. Every year 500 hours of volunteer work, and as many tubes of glue, were needed to maintain the 350m2 blockhaus. Between the sea erosion and the wind, it was necessary to regularly pick up the pieces of mirror and glue them back together, at least for safety matter. Since the beginning it was meant to be ephemeral, but the blockhaus met a lot of success in particular among the inhabitants of the region. The artist who could no longer maintain the project alone, proposed to the local communities to perpetuate it.
The rescue of the blockhaus came up against political institutions: the regional president had accepted financial support to maintain the work in good condition, but it was not possible to rally local communities around the artist. In particular, there is a deep disagreement with the urban community of Dunkirk, which nevertheless used the image for five years to promote the territory without paying the artist, who maintained the work out of his own money (a legal procedure is in progress on this last point).
For more information: his Instagram account.
These photos were taken in 2017, featuring the December sunset.
Here are some other blockhauses also on Leffrinckoucke beach.
Gwlad Sas 