This is kind of cool...French Mansion sealed shut for 100 years to be opened.

[FLPanhandle]

http://gizmodo.com/5738018/this-mansion-has-been-sealed-shut-for-over-100-years-now-its-open-to-the-public

When frenchman Louis Mantin died in 1905, he mandated that his house be sealed up for over a century, then reopened to the public as a museum. And now it is, effectively becoming a time capsule for all to see.

The French mansion, located in the town of Moulins, is full of artifacts and pieces that Mantin had collected over the course of his life, including paintings, tapestries, prehistoric flints, Egyptian relics and other pieces from the Medieval and Neolithic eras.

Here's what the BBC had to say about his motives:

Mantin only had a few years to indulge his aesthetic fantasies. Knowing that his death was approaching, he made a will in which he made sure his treasured house would be saved.

"In the will, he says that he wants the people of Moulins in 100 years time to be able to see what was the life of a cultured gentleman of his day," said assistant curator Maud Leyoudec.

"A bachelor with no children, he was obsessed with death and the passage of time. It was his way of becoming eternal."

[xchrom]

1. Awesome. I woulda love to see it. Nt

[Webster Green]

2. Geraldo?

:smoke:

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. LOL

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Very cool!

[Hannah Bell]

5. a lot of questions. who paid for security & taxes & groundskeepers in the interim?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

9. I would imagine the executors of his will paid out of

his estate...

sP

[Hannah Bell]

11. the executors are long-dead, i think. but the groundskeeping. security, repairs, etc.

needs -- plus the tax bill -- continued over 100 years.

[Warren Stupidity]

21. the executors can exist in perpetuity

if the trust is set up properly. Obviously it was.

[Hannah Bell]

23. not the same ones. "executors" can, not "the executors".

the article doesn't say anything about a trust; just a will.

it's your assumption there's a trust.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

29. 'the executors' could easily be a law firm

it's your assumption that there is not a trust...what's your point?

sP

[intheflow]

12. If he could live in a house like that

he probably established some kind of trust for it. Or the towns people put it into a historic trust since they were the ones who sealed it up to preserve it.

[myrna minx]

6. Interesting. K&R n/t

[malaise]

7. I hope it's not overrun

with rats, other critters and insects.
I'd love to see it.

[formercia]

10. A shooting gallery for the last 50 years?

what a mess that would be.

[intheflow]

14. My first thought as well.

I hope someone was monitoring the exterior. And that it doesn't turn out to be moldy inside, either.

[leftstreet]

8. LOL 3.5 million euro retrofit to open it? Dude must have been loaded

Interesting that it survived 'unopened' through both WWs

[intheflow]

13. I thought that, too. n/t

[NoPasaran]

18. Location, location, location

Moulins is in central France, roughly halfway on a line drawn between Orleans and Lyons. The battlefronts of the First World War were far away, and the WW2 fighting seems to have bypassed the area as well. Remarkable good fortune.

[bleever]

15. There's gotta be some weed stashed somewhere in there.

Check the back of his closet shelf.

[tiny elvis]

26. else he was no 'cultured gentleman'

[MilesColtrane]

28. An avowed bachelor?

This must be the motherlode of fin de siecle porn in history.

[Raine]

16. WOW! This is just so INCREDIABLE

I would so love to see it! :bounce:

[uppityperson]

17. k&r, very interesting.

[struggle4progress]

19. The French house untouched for 100 years (BBC)

18 January 2011 Last updated at 07:34 ET Share this pageFacebookTwitterShareEmailPrint
The French house untouched for 100 years
By Hugh Schofield
BBC News, Moulins
<includes video>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12214885

[FLPanhandle]

20. The video is great

Much more information and it looks like an amazing place.

[Major Hogwash]

22. Jesus, doesn't France believe in urban renewal and bulldozing anything over 35 years old like us?

The city council here voted to tear down a very historic building downtown and "bring the face of the city into the 21st Century."

I couldn't believe it.
It was one of my favorite old buildings downtown.
The historical society couldn't even save it.

I hate the look of the modern buildings, they have no freaking character, hardly at all!

[patrick t. cakes]

27. whats not to love about this...

[Historic NY]

24. Very nice.

[somone]

25. Remarkable story

[Enthusiast]

30. Cool! nt

[cbdo2007]

31. Hope it's not full of dead bodies or something. eek!

[Buns_of_Fire]

32. Zombies.

Our only hope is that, when they all jump out of the mansion and eat the people of Moulins, they'll decide they like French food and leave everybody else alone (sorry, France, thanks for the Statue of Liberty and all that, but we're talking zombies here!). Barring that, we could toss 'em a Glenn Beck or two and hope to convince them that Americans are unappetizing.
:scared:

[SoCalDem]

33. Makes me want to go to France now..just to see that

:)

[malaise]

34. I'd like to see the wine cellar

:D