A less-than-climactic visit to a fairly well-known, unfortunately empty villa in a valley in the South-Western Alsace.
I ended up here after poking around a spectacular, immense, amazing abandoned mine complex, including derelict massive mining machinery and a huge collection of old mechanical stuff...until I realized that I'd somehow managed to infiltrate the back fence of an active museum. Took me the better part of an hour to find the "TOUR STARTS HERE" sign, too.
Crap.
This mansion was built by a wealthy textile industrialist in the 1850s, and is known for its spectacular gardens. Out back, you can still see the remnants of the huge once-manicured yard, but unfortunately, at some point, some genius decided to turn this magnificent villa into some sort of hotel or sanatorium, I haven't been able to find decent records on it.
Although there's no furniture left, the bones of the house are amazing, with near-perfect stucco and parquet flooring. The only sad bit is the ridiculous eyesore of the kitchen (?) wing, that, as with so many abandoned sites in France, would do well with a bit of dynamite.
More, as always, at kosmograd.net.
EDIT: DATE: LAST WEEKEND.
I ended up here after poking around a spectacular, immense, amazing abandoned mine complex, including derelict massive mining machinery and a huge collection of old mechanical stuff...until I realized that I'd somehow managed to infiltrate the back fence of an active museum. Took me the better part of an hour to find the "TOUR STARTS HERE" sign, too.
Crap.
This mansion was built by a wealthy textile industrialist in the 1850s, and is known for its spectacular gardens. Out back, you can still see the remnants of the huge once-manicured yard, but unfortunately, at some point, some genius decided to turn this magnificent villa into some sort of hotel or sanatorium, I haven't been able to find decent records on it.
Although there's no furniture left, the bones of the house are amazing, with near-perfect stucco and parquet flooring. The only sad bit is the ridiculous eyesore of the kitchen (?) wing, that, as with so many abandoned sites in France, would do well with a bit of dynamite.
More, as always, at kosmograd.net.
EDIT: DATE: LAST WEEKEND.
Last edited:
