# Fort de la Chartreuse, Liege, Belgium - January 2013



## PROJ3CTM4YH3M (Feb 9, 2013)

History (stolen from wikipedia)

The Fort de la Chartreuse, which dominates the Amercœur neighborhood of Liège in Belgium, was built between 1817 and 1823 to defend the city.

The fort is built on a strategic height that dominates the valley of the Meuse, which had been occupied by a Carthusian (Ordre des Chartreux) monastery until the French Revolution. The fort was built by the Dutch, who at the time administered southern Belgium.

The fort was abandoned as a fortification by the military in 1891 and was thereafter used as a barracks. From 1914 to 1918 the Germans used it as a prison, and again from 1940 to 1944. In 1944-1945 it was used by the Americans as a military hospital. The Belgian army left the site in 1988.

Our Visit
After partying hard on new years eve the night before our superb tour guide and driver Christophe spent most of this visit hunched over his steering wheel asleep. Reliable Ryan ‘Intrepidus’ was powering through the hangover by continuing to drink whilst he wondered around with me keeping me company while I explored this massive site. Despite spending several hours there, we only managed to cover about 60% of the site and even then I don’t doubt we missed a lot. This place is massive there is no other way to describe it. Aside from the main buildings which seem to go on forever, there are lots of little off shoots and smaller buildings located around the edges of the grounds and some concealed areas which are now obscured by the tress and vegetation.

Highlight of this visit for me had to be the stairs in the main building pictured above, I’d seen a shot of them elsewhere from someone else’s report where they were labelled Purgatory (had to steal the name it seemed so fitting) and instantly knew I wanted to photograph them for myself . There’s no denying the place is a wreck with most notable features having been stripped out and very little which has been left behind but the architecture and sheer size of this place made it well worth the trip! I’d definitely like to revisit this one.


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There's quite a few more photos from this place and from other visits on my blog (link in sigi). Hope you enjoyed


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## flyboys90 (Feb 9, 2013)

Great photos thanks for sharing.


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## Sshhhh... (Feb 9, 2013)

Looks like a fab mooch, all that peely paint, decay and grafitti make for some interesting shots. Great report and pics


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## PROJ3CTM4YH3M (Feb 9, 2013)

Cheers guys, it was a bit of a mess this place but the size of it made up for it! Still a couple of nice features to snap


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## tank2020 (Feb 9, 2013)

Amazing pics. I have almost the same pic as no14. It looks like a skull dont you think?


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## Stealthstar79 (Feb 9, 2013)

ooo I love the look of the building..
Great pics and report..
Thanks!


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## PROJ3CTM4YH3M (Feb 9, 2013)

tank2020 said:


> Amazing pics. I have almost the same pic as no14. It looks like a skull dont you think?



yes mate, loved that whole central staircase it was so photogenic


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## Harry (Feb 9, 2013)

Like it, thanks for sharing!


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## sweet pea (Feb 9, 2013)

this is the same place my grandads 3 uncles were kept along with his dad before they were shot after an attack on a german soldier


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## sonyes (Feb 9, 2013)

Looks great that mate, and as per usual....fantastic shots!! 1 & 4 bear an uncanny resemblance to 'Huncoat Power Station'


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## perjury saint (Feb 9, 2013)

*Top notch that...*


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## peterc4 (Feb 9, 2013)

very nice mate especially that long dark corridor, 12 aswell vet amytiville horror


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## UrbanX (Feb 10, 2013)

Wow, just epic. That is peely paint heaven! I've always poo-pooed this place as a derp, but those photos look stunning! 
Hats off to ya!


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## Wendy Lou (Feb 10, 2013)

Amazing photos, what a cool place! Thanks for sharing!


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## PROJ3CTM4YH3M (Feb 10, 2013)

UrbanX said:


> Wow, just epic. That is peely paint heaven! I've always poo-pooed this place as a derp, but those photos look stunning!
> Hats off to ya!



Who says you cant polish a turd?  but there are still a couple of interesting features check it out next time you are out that way


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## mookster (Feb 10, 2013)

UrbanX said:


> I've always poo-pooed this place as a derp



Oh man, missing out! It's one of the proper oldschool Belgian locations, the size of it and some of the features left make up for the damage it's sustained...I saw probably less than 60% of it when I was there last year so hopefully we will see the rest soon...

The staircases are definitely some of the best I've had the opportunity to photograph, love them.


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## mrtoby (Feb 11, 2013)

Love the fisheye symmetry


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## Locuri uitate (Feb 11, 2013)

Incredible photos, thanks


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## Jet48 (Feb 11, 2013)

Thanks for sharing


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## prettyvacant71 (Mar 14, 2013)

WOW!!!...luv no.8 wiv the trees growing out of the windows and no.11 great staires

Luvely processing job too, looks an amazin place to explore


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## Ferdi015 (Mar 14, 2013)

Nice see-throughs. Love 16 with the stairs.


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## PROJ3CTM4YH3M (Mar 14, 2013)

prettyvacant71 said:


> WOW!!!...luv no.8 wiv the trees growing out of the windows and no.11 great staires
> 
> Luvely processing job too, looks an amazin place to explore



Cheers it was a really cool place to photography, I didnt have high hopes for it but despite being pretty much ruins there were plenty of decent architectural features which made it entertaining 



Ferdi015 said:


> Nice see-throughs. Love 16 with the stairs.



Cheers bud 16 is also one of my personal faves from that place loved those stairs, they were the main reason I went


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