Today we are going to explore a forgotten mansion, the descendants of the house because they can not afford the high inheritance tax, abandoned here, now the road to the castle is gone, everywhere is covered with forest, it seems that no one has been here for a long time.
This fairytale castle originated in the 17th century, when Europe was still under imperial rule, and was once the holiday home of French rulers who used to live here when they came here to hunt in the forest.
By 1830, the monarchy had been completely overthrown, the king's family had abandoned the place, the house had been occupied by the townspeople, and after decades, after the hatred of the king had subsided, the descendants of the royal family had come back to take over the place, saved it from the dilapidated ruins, and lived here for hundreds of years, until 1990, when the last owner of the house, Ms. Madeleine, died, and was never mentioned again, now we go in and have a look.
The old castle was a four-story house made up of civil structures, with spacious staircases where former masters walked, while servants could only take the smaller staircases in the castle.
On the walls of the stairwell hang specimens of animals previously hunted by homeowners, a wild cormorant whose death was in the mid-19th century, more than 100 years ago.
It was a weasel that in the past Europeans liked to hang their prey as trophies of war, which looked rather cruel, and at the time they considered it an honor to show to their guests.
The castle is divided into two periods of architectural style, the Baroque from the 17th century and the Rococo from the 18th century.
In the 18th century, the Rococo design style spread throughout the aristocratic castles in Europe, and because it prevailed during the reign of Louis XV, it was also known as the Louis XV style, which mainly reflected the characteristics of refinement, delicacy and complexity.
The crimson walls of the corridors and the specimens of animals give a very cold feeling, and the reindeer on the walls are decorated with exquisite wooden components, and the emblems of the royal family are engraved underneath, reflecting the indifferent and ruthless character of the European royal nobles.
In the middle of the staircase is a European-style sofa handed down from the 17th century, which in ancient times was an object that was only added to the homes of the upper class, and the value was very expensive, and it was embroidered with roses by hand, which was noble, elegant and romantic.
Some of the animals on the wall look like they have been made into specimens before they have reached adulthood, and although they are very beautifully made, it is really pitiful that the small animals have lost their families.
In the center of the staircase hangs an elaborate chandelier, which looks very distinctive because the floor is too high, so it is connected to an iron chain that is more than 6 meters long.
Now we come to the bedroom location of the castle, this room looks like the bedroom of the twin children, the red curtains and sheets are a complete set, even now many places can not buy the bed curtains and sheets are a set, this design makes the whole bedroom look particularly coordinated and good-looking.
The wardrobe still retains the owner's coat, the texture of the clothing looks more general, no precious silk silk is found, it seems that the royal descendants who live here have not developed satisfactorily and lost their former glory.
The desk in the middle also has an ancient European pen, ink and paper, which used to be no brush in Europe, and the quill pen, as the main writing instrument in the past, has been popular in Europe for more than 1,000 years.
This curved "stamp" is blotting paper that absorbs excess ink and makes the text dry faster.
Now this beautiful bedroom wall has begun to decay, you can see the internal wooden wall, to maintain such a big castle requires too much money, such a large castle, every month just the electricity bill has to spend tens of thousands, the average person can not afford it.
The mud on the door beams was also all dropped, and the bare steel bars could be seen.
The purple room next door with its strong Baroque décor looks like a place where the princess lived, and it has a spacious space that gives a warm and romantic feel.
Purple wallpaper is decorated by iris flowers as a background, the name of the iris flower is transformed from the Greek rainbow goddess Iris, in ancient Europe, iris was often used to wish happiness and tranquility, because the flowering period of iris is very short, but also reminds people to cherish the beautiful and perishable life and love.
The princess's headboard is woven from a mixture of solid wood and bamboo and rattan, and there are many religious carvings on it.
We have mentioned the religious beliefs of European royalty in the past, and we will not repeat them here.
This house also has a large area of damage, you can see the exposed stones inside the wall, this wall is composed of a lot of rubble, it seems that the architectural structure of the castle is very complex, both civil and stone, or the first time to see such a house.
On the other side of the bedroom is an old dresser, in the 17th century, the mirror has not yet been invented, most of the nobles are through the bronze mirror to see their appearance, the former princess sat in front of this dresser to dress up, unfortunately now the copper mirror has been taken away.
Although the European style decoration is very grade, but the need for overall collocation coordination, if only blindly buy some of the furniture alone, will give people a feeling of foreign, not native, so want to buy European furniture friends should choose carefully.
The high-legged round bedside table is placed next to the bed, which highlights the noble temperament of the owner, this bedside table and bed are a set, also made of bamboo rattan and wood, which looks very distinctive.
The descendants of the castle actually planned to renovate the place, and they piled up a lot of renovation objects on the second floor, but now they don't know why they haven't been used, all of them are wasted.
This seemingly narrow staircase was reserved for former servants and leads to the 1st to 4th floors
Walking here I found that there is a very strange place in this castle, many of their bedrooms have two beds, I think there are two possibilities, one is that their family has more and more children, the castle is not enough to live, so there are two beds in the bedroom, and there is also a possibility that they use to receive guests, so the design is the same as the hotel.
We now go to visit the place where the former servants lived, who were enclosed in a small space to serve the royals, which was not ideal for ventilation or lighting. It feels like the owner of the house used to pay very little attention to the living environment of the servants,
It was his kitchen, and in the corner was a mute waiter, a manual elevator from which food or clothing could be brought directly upstairs.
There was a dining table in the center of the kitchen, and it was in such darkness that the servants ate and lived without any dignity.
There are 3 telephones on the side, which are used by the housekeeper upstairs to contact the downstairs, it seems that there are indeed many people who used to live here, otherwise there is no need to use so many phones.
The most special thing about this kitchen is that there is a huge safe next to the kitchen stove, do any friends know what this is for?
Because in ancient times, the price of spices was particularly expensive, that is, pepper and salt, which are now very common, pepper and salt are treasures that rich people can afford to eat, and for example, the price of saffron is sold by grams, which is more expensive than gold, so it is necessary to hide the spices in the safe and be guarded by the foreman or housekeeper to avoid theft.