Urban Exploring or Urbex is the art of photographing and documenting desolated, abandoned city locations before time sank its claws into them completely. If you are not really sure what I am talking about you can check the works of Daniel Marbaix (featured) and David Van Bael.
The work is quite enchanting, but if you try to get into that field of photography, and ask about those locations, you will probably get a cold shoulder and those locations will stay secret. and there is a good reason for that.
David Van Bael just shared this photo he found over the web (sadly we have no source for it) of Villa Amélie. Villa Amélie used to be a pilgrimage for urban explorers in France. Sadly its location went out it was destroyed. (We are not sure about all the rooms in the Villa, but this room is definitely not what it used to be). It really shows how quickly a place can be trashed once revealed to the general public.
Here are few images of the place after it was cleaned up from vandalism. Still beautiful, but not quite the same as it was in its natural glory. -if you go back in time even further, you can find photos with the piano still standing on its feet
[photos via David Van Bael]
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