The photographer managed to take pictures of the abandoned castle before the building was destroyed by fire

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Historical memory is an integral part of the culture of any human society. French photographer Roman Thierry travels Europe in search of abandoned castles and villas to give new life to his photographs. Places forgotten by people, keeping echoes of former greatness, seem to come to life in his photographs to tell us their mysterious story.

This story began in 2009, when a photographer and pianist, Romain Thiery, stumbled upon an abandoned piano in an old French castle. This sight made such an indelible impression on him that he decided to create a whole series of photographs dedicated to this topic. He called it Requiem Pour Pianos.

This series includes 124 photographs. They were made in different parts of Europe, including Spain, Italy, Romania and Germany. Roman searched for abandoned musical instruments even in such terrible places as the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Previously, he used Google Earth to search, focusing exclusively on castles and cultural buildings. Now there are often times when people contact him directly.

The images that the photographer creates are not staged. He shoots everything as it is. Roman himself says that this underlines the incredible power of musical instruments, even in such an unsightly environment. “This is the little I can and want to do to bring the memories of these forgotten pianos back to life before time makes them disappear completely.”

Roman Thierry lives in France, in Montpellier. He has won numerous awards from various international photography competitions and festivals. Thierry's personal exhibitions were held in different countries: France, USA, Israel, Norway, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, Spain and Great Britain. The photographer's work is exhibited at Abalone Galleries in Trondheim, Light Space & Time in Florida and other prestigious locations.

Roman himself was born in France in 1988. He learned to play the piano, and ten years ago became interested in photography. Now this is his life. But music remained his passion. Roman believes that the piano is so deeply rooted in our culture that it is impossible to imagine music without this instrument.

Thierry always strove to explore this musical instrument from a peculiar, original point of view. Roman sees the meaning of his life in combining these two of his most passionate passions: music and photography. It was thanks to the series of photographs "Requiem for the piano" that Thierry gained worldwide fame. He also has a series of stunning photographs of how nature reclaims its ancestral territory from humans. Abandoned dilapidated medieval castles are overgrown with trees and bushes.

His heartbreaking photographs tell the story of how majestic human dwellings contain often broken interior items, traces of their former splendor and luxury. These images convey all the ruthlessness and inevitability of time.

Roman Thierry has traveled all over Europe in search of crumbling abandoned castles. On one of his trips in search of forgotten pianos, he stumbled upon an old castle in his native France. This 18th century castle, Château de Le Quesnel, was completely abandoned a few years ago. Prior to that, he survived two world wars, when he was used for their own purposes by the German invaders.

This very majestic building, with an area of more than seven hundred square meters, despite serious post-war restoration work, did not become inhabited. After Roman was lucky enough to capture the once magnificently decorated interiors of the castle, he was completely destroyed by a fire by an unfortunate accident. It is a great regret that such a beautiful place of historical memory perished. There is also something that serves as some consolation: the photographer has kept him alive forever in his works.

If you are interested in the subject of photographic art, read our article about the photographer, whose photographs turn all the usual ideas about photography.