france

The once grand Bureau Central administration building now stands decayed and rotting, but still retains nearly all of it's character. History The Bureau Central was the main offices for the de Wendel Family Metal company. The Family had been involved in metal industry since the 18th Century...

This old chapel in the middle of the forest was the first stop during my last trip to France on the penultimate weekend. Only a small and overgrown path leads to it. If you don't know the location, you'll hardly find it; even from the winding country road below the chapel, it's barely visible...

It was a very long trip on this day - 23.5 hours on the road, 1480 km driven... But it was worth it. :) In the afternoon we reached our third place, this old house on the outskirts of a small village. From the outside it was already pretty overgrown. Nevertheless, access wasn't difficult...

In early 2018 we visited one of the new tunnels of Paris metro which for the moment (May 2018) is still under construction. Recently I was told that this place is no longer accessible due to active works that doesn't stop even at night, so I will publish some pictures. Btw, we managed to get in...

A former powerplant that ran on gas from blast furnaces, now being demolished. ----

An oil refinery being decommissioned... I went there with my bicycle, managed to get it past the first fence which was nice xD I hope i didn't put too many photos... D90 with sigma 17-70 cheers

Was  reminded that I didn't posted anything yet so, here's a post of a recent visit to this mine. This one is not the safest one :-) . Some parts are  already collapsed. There are several levels but the lower did we skip. Heard that the air quality is not the best there and we didn't bring the...

Ouvrage Hobling is a lesser work (petit ouvrage) of the Maginot Line. Hobling was approved for construction by CORF (Commission d'Organisation des Régions Fortifiées), the Maginot Line's design and construction agency, in 1931 and became operational by 1935, at a cost of 14 million francs. The...

The colliery Saint Fontaine was opened in 1908. For the extraction of hard coal, they dug to a depth of 1037 meters. In the 1960s, up to two million tons of hard coal were mined. In 1972 the colliery was closed for the first time, but in 1976 the operation was resumed. In 1986, the final...

Another visit from October with @Andy, @Maniacand@extreme_ironing. From seeing Andy's report I missed quite a few bits but you can't see everything unless you spend the whole day down there. Another epic bit of WW2 history and there's lots more out there.    Ouvrage Mont des Welches, a gros...

In May I went to Lake Constance for a Vespa Corso. As the wheather forecast was promising I decided to take the chance for a ride through Baden-Württemberg. Feeling hungry once I realised to be close to the French border. Et voila.. Château Lumière. No more words neccessary about Château...

This fortress was constructed by the Germans from 1907-1914. It served German soldiers during the First World War but saw little action. Then it was occupied by the French between 1919 & 1940, where it was incorporated into the maginot line for WW2. After the departure of French troops in...

The well-known 18th century building was once the central administration of a nearby steelworks. Visited with @The_Raw , @extreme_ironing & @Maniac.   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17...

Fort Jeanne d'Arc, also called Fortified Group Jeanne d'Arc, is a fortification located to the west of Metz in the Moselle department of France. It was built by Germany to the west of the town of Rozérieulles in the early 20th century as part of the third and final group of Metz fortifications...

Ouvrage Mont des Welches, a gros ouvrage of the Maginot Line fortifications, is part of the Fortified Sector of Boulay. It comprises two entrance blocks, one infantry block, one artillery block, one observation block and two combination blocks. It is located between petit ouvrage Coucou and gros...

Just a small chapel on the roadside. I don't know anything about the history.   Visited with @The_Raw.     1   2   3   4   5   6  

This location is the one where you quickly hear the stories about: impossible, the mount everest of the urbex, don't even try ... But sometmes this steel giant likes some company over too and there were rumours of a slight chance to get in. The date was set already and actually something else...

The first stop on a recent trip to France and Luxembourg with @Andy. A former limestone mine in France, later used during WW2 for the production of oxygen. Quite a small  mine and mostly flooded but there were some nice photos to be had.                    Thanks for...

This building used to be a monastery but in the first World War it was turned into an emergency hospital for soldiers who fought in the trenches. Many Belgian soldiers were brought into care here, which explains why the ' don't spit on the floor" sign is both in French and English. We came here...

This was the admin block for an adjacent steelworks. It was built in 1704, and despite being pretty battered nowadays, it still retains some of its former grandeur. The mixture of decay and natural light makes it quite photogenic. Plenty of reports from here before so this is just an update on...