These old WWII beach bunkers on France’s Atlantic shore have been given an anonymous makeover, turning the Art of War into just plain art.
Seventy-five years ago the French coast was the frontline of Hitler’s Festung Europa – “Fortress Europe”. As such, the beaches were guarded by enormous concrete bunkers and blockhouses meant to shelter soldiers and heavy guns aimed at anyone fearless or foolhardy enough to invade. Well, we know how that all turned out. Decades later, much of the threatening infrastructure has been removed but much still remains… tamed by time and the power of Art.
The beach bunkers at Tarnos, a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, never saw action as this stretch of southwestern France was not invaded from the sea. Following the end of the war, the bunkers were merely cleaned out… there was nor is no threat of unexploded ordinance on this beach. Thus graffiti artists of any and all skill levels have safely been able to paint in, on and around the bunkers without fear of injury.
