From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

In 1958, Paul Virilio [1][2] conducted a phenomenological enquiry into military space and the organization of territory, particularly concerning the Atlantic Wall. The result was published in French in 1975 by Centre Georges Pompidou, C.C.I as Bunker Archéologie : étude sur l'espace militaire européen de la Seconde Guerre mondiale and in English as Bunker Archeology: Texts and Photos.

From the American publisher

The Atlantic Wall has never been as famous as the Maginot or Siegfried line. Built in less than 4 years on the entire French coastline to forestall an Allied landing, this system of fortification designed by General Todt is composed of almost 15,000 separate constructions including 4,000 major structures and 9,000 artillery batteries which linked the fortified ports. On 6th June 1944, the Allied landings put it out of commission once and for all.

In the aftermath of the War, the author started the research of this defence system from a new standpoint, beginning this study which combines the objectivity of the historian, the awe with which the structures inspired in him as a boy, and the aesthetics and philosophy of the modern mind.

This is a photographic and historic study of one of the great lines of fortification of World War II, including a strategic and design analysis of each type of structure - bunkers, observation posts, etc. --from the publisher

From the German publisher

1992: Bunkerarchäologie. München, Hanser

English translation

Princeton Architectural Press[3]; 1 edition (December 1, 1997)