The Dutch are looking for France's old border with Luxembourg

Eef Berns, together with friends Marik and Yannis, has been exploring the border between Luxembourg and France for two years to find old border posts. As the team told L'essentiel, the 75-kilometre stretch between the two countries should contain around 1,000 such objects, including main and intermediate posts.

They use maps and Geoportail to search for them, but the job is not easy. Many poles are hidden in forests, overgrown by trees or underground. When researchers find an object, they photograph it and record the coordinates on their website. However, some poles have completely disappeared, and in such cases wooden signs are erected in their place, marking where they should have been.

The search for old frontiers has become a real passion for these enthusiasts. Before Luxembourg, they were engaged in similar projects in the Netherlands, the Pyrenees and Eastern Europe, exploring old frontiers between the West and the USSR.

Burns believes that in an era of open borders, such research takes on historical and cultural value. Old border markers are like monuments, and their restoration helps preserve the past in a changing world.

The explorers have recently been working in Mondorf-les-Bains and will soon return to Luxembourg to continue their expedition. The final destination will be Schengen, a symbol of borders that have disappeared but are not forgotten.