A wonderful place

This is one of those stories that just makes me realize that the world we live in is a fantastic and wonderful place.

A group of guerilla restorationists fixed the clock at the Panthéon in Paris under the nose of the authorities.

Four members of an underground "cultural guerrilla" movement known as the Untergunther, whose purpose is to restore France's cultural heritage, were cleared on Friday of breaking into the 18th-century monument in a plot worthy of Dan Brown or Umberto Eco.
For a year from September 2005, under the nose of the Panthéon's unsuspecting security officials, a group of intrepid "illegal restorers" set up a secret workshop and lounge in a cavity under the building's famous dome. Under the supervision of group member Jean-Baptiste Viot, a professional clockmaker, they pieced apart and repaired the antique clock that had been left to rust in the building since the 1960s. Only when their clandestine revamp of the elaborate timepiece had been completed did they reveal themselves.

The only downside to the story is that the Panthéon's administrator was fired over the issue.

Obligitory photo:

Luke pensive about the Parthenon