The LEP ground-breaking ceremony

After lunch and toasts, the Swiss and the French Presidents, Pierre Aubert and François Mitterrand, visited the UA1 detector, 20 metres underground and drawn back into its garage position adjacent to the SPS ring. A separate ministerial party followed, and went on into the SPS ring beyond, symbolically crossing the Swiss-French frontier under ground, before arriving at the underground hall housing the UA2 detector.