Abandoned Paris Apartment Gives Glimpse Of 1940s

An abandoned, untouched Paris apartment was discovered in a busy Right Bank neighborhood that had been lying completely dormant for almost 70 years.  Nobody entered the apartment since 1942, when the apartment’s owner, Mrs. De Florian, fled Paris for the south of France when World War II began.
As a result, her city apartment was left completely unchanged since the 1940s (Mrs. De Florian never again returned to Paris). The amazing find recollects life in pre-war Paris, complete with high wooden ceilings, giant vanities, a wood stove, and the typical French decor that was typical of the time.
The apartment was discovered after the owner passed away, when her estate was in charge of finding and making an inventory of her personal assets.  The team that stumbled upon the untouched apartment for the first time compared the experience to “stumbling into the castle of sleeping beauty,” which was eerily silent and covered in cobwebs.
The apartment was dusted and photographed with all of the original decorations and items still in tact:

One of the strangest finds was a painting of a beautiful French woman by Giovanni Boldini.  It turned out that the painting was the owner of the apartment, who was the personal muse of the famous artist.  This discovery was made after handwritten love notes from Boldini to Madame de Florian were found in the apartment as well.
The apartment now belongs to her estate and is closed to the public, but these eerie photographs will always serve as a reminder of a pre-war period that has been lost to the history books.

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