Remarkable houses in the Ariège
Remarkable houses abound in the Ariege, in the Pyrenees. This is especially the case for Saint Lizier, on top of the beautiful 12th-century cloister (above), as in the picture below with this strange bodiless character.
Saint Lizier Cathedral is a Romanesque Catholic cathedral located in Saint-Lizier in the Ariège region […] The cathedral, dates from the 11th, 14th and 15th centuries. It has a superb Romanesque cloister, also a listed historic building. The town has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Pilgrimage Route to Santiago de Compostela in France since 1998. […] The cathedral is named after Lizier de Couserans, a bishop who participated in the Council of Agde in the 6th century£
source: lumiere de Dieu
Walking around town I caught a glimpse of an interesting symmetrical building
I wonder what this remarkable house is about. One could imagine this is a secluded place where people were once abducted. Maybe by some mysterious terrorist group. The Pyrenees Liberation Front? It doesn’t make much sense though. It reminds me of the finale of this Argentinian film with Ricardo Darín El secreto de sus Ojos (The secret in their eyes).
What else could it be? A house built by a retired couple who never had a chance to finish it. The breeze blocks still bare, only the bottom of the house adorned with stone-wall cladding. One could imagine those people running out of money and having to retire to a home, with no means of finishing the work they had initiated.
Whoever installed the gutter may have had something in the back of his mind when he did it but what could it be?
We found this other remarkable house a little further away in the country. It looked beautiful and romantic, I jumped over the fence so that I could take a few pictures.
As I was shooting a man came to talk to me about the house. He seemed eager to sell it to me. I said I found it beautiful but has no desire to purchase it, that we already own a stone house in the mountain. He looked rather disappointed. He told me the house had burned but could be refurbished. It’s a very quiet and green village, away from the main road and not too far from St Girons.
In case you’re interested, here’s the village name and location. Do give me a shout when you’ve bought and overhauled the place.
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