This is a place where time has just stopped. Here, the past is present, and entering this house is a journey through history. It is the manor of knights. Once, a noble family was living in this French château, with good connections to the royals. But the nobles vanished, and they left behind their grand home with all the personal belongings and precious heirlooms. This is their lost legacy, full of well-kept secrets. What happened here? We set out on a search for clues through time. Join us on an exploration of a true time capsule! We travel back to a period full of elegance and glory. Time moves forward, and only flows in one direction. But you do not have to row with the stream - what we are doing is rowing against it. That is how you stop time. Hi guys and welcome to today's video. We've got two very good news for you. The first is that we have won in a big photo contest and were invited to the award ceremony just two weeks ago. The other good news is that our 2022 urbex calendar is now finally ready. I will tell you more about these two updates later but first enjoy the new episode. The wallpaper is peeling, mold is spreading. This is not a home anymore, it has been uninhabited for decades already. This time, we are exploring a dilapidated château in the middle of nowhere. It is located in a small village of only 100 inhabitants. Long ago, the local lord built himself a small castle. But not much is left of the former pomp and splendor. In the past 50 years, the ensemble slid into obscurity. The residents were forgotten. We want to tell their story. The interior emanates an authentic charm of times gone by. "Vintage", you would call it today. This, by the way, is an old light switch. Furniture and items from different ages come together in this mansion. Each new generation dwelling here left behind pieces of their life. It all started back in the 18th century when the château was constructed. The family that built it came from a dynasty of knights that served the French royal house. Members of this clan were aldermen and mayors, high-ranking military personnel, or squires. It is said, one of them was even the king’s secretary! They owned many properties in the country, and this was supposed to be their stately home, befitting of their grandeur. The basement was the place for their social gatherings - a real man cave, as you see, with the most diverse collectibles. Next to the cozy fireplace and the rustic furnishings, there is one more must-have you will basically find in every serious manor. This structure has been abandoned for so long that it is already collapsing in parts. What is this? A safe! Obviously, we are not the first trying to crack it. We wonder what treasures still might be inside. So, instead, we are browsing through what is not locked away to find out more about the former residents. Sometimes we read comments under our videos that we should not touch this stuff and just let it be. But we are explorers, and we come to these places to investigate forgotten stories. This house was passed on to the closest family members for generations. But eventually, the age of knights and kings ended, and this family lost their influence. That is why parts of the château do not look glamorous at all. This is the kitchen located in the annex built in more recent times. Also here, everything was just left behind - as if the occupants suddenly disappeared. We are upstairs in the annex. That is where the retro bedrooms are - and there are many of them. It is pure nostalgia. Many of the items here can be dated back to the 70s and 80s. In our opinion, that is when the château became abandoned. But there are also much older things - sometimes even hidden behind secret doors. Basically in every corner of this house, there are old, musty books and magazines about different subjects. The last generation living here had a wide spread of interests. They were privileged. They could spend a lot of time reading, not working. But the property was only a shadow of its former self. In the past century, the beauty from previous times was already gone, together with the wealth of the family. Only memories remain of the golden days. Or in this case: slides. Those who once resided in this house passed away - but their heirs still live on today, elsewhere. They never claimed what is theirs. Maintenance of such a structure costs a fortune, especially since this was listed as a heritage-protected building. Also, the inheritance fees were probably an insurmountable hurdle for the heirs. Abundance and grandeur were matters of the past. So instead, thieves broke in and looted the valuable family heirlooms - leading to inheritance disputes. While the eldest son reportedly wanted to have the manor saved to continue his family's legacy, the other descendants preferred to sell the property to the highest bidder. It is said that the château was put up for sale a few years ago. But at the time we are editing this video, it has not been sold. What remains is a neglected homestead, crumbling by the day - a true time-capsule that preserves 300 years of history, only accessible to those who are curious. As mentioned earlier we won a photo competition. There’s a German travel photography festival called Wunderwelten. They were looking for the coolest pictures of abandoned places among two other categories. From more than 7,000 submissions, one of my shots made it to the top 10. A drone photo from Marco was even selected as the best picture in the abandoned places category. As part of their festival, we were invited to the award ceremony where we were honored together with other photographers. I’m not gonna lie, it was an amazing feeling to sit in the rows and to see our pictures on a big screen in front of all these people. We came up on the stage and the first price was a voucher for photo gear and we’ll invest that in new equipment. Also, our photos are now part of a traveling exhibition that is touring through Germany. In a year or so, we can pick up the prints with our winning pictures and keep them. And for those of you who are interested in bringing home some of our photos as well we finally got some news regarding our urbex calendar for this year. The 2022 Urbex Calendar is now available for pre-order through our website www.bwturbex.com. For the next week or two, you can purchase it with a discount before we launch the calendar officially and start shipping worldwide. If you’re interested you can find the link in the video description or the pinned comment down below. Thanks a lot for your support! These videos and explorations are our job by now. With your purchase you help us to make these episodes and all future adventures possible. We are really excited to share our 2022 Urbex Calendar with you guys. Your feedback in the past years was overwhelming! Together with our photographer friend @tobi_urbex, we were going through our best shots from 2021 to bring you a new calendar. We will start shipping soon! Until then, stay curious and keep exploring!
