Hello, friends. Today we'll talk about art.
But more precisely, not really about art, but about its dark side - ensuring that everything shines, plays, sounds, etc. How they sang there once - what would these geniuses play, if it weren't for simple piano tuners … Well, we have a quite suitable object - the Le Fresnoy center for contemporary art, which is located in Tourcoing (a suburb of Lille) in France. Judging by the site, it is an ordinary center for contemporary art, with a cinema, a restaurant, etc., there are many of these throughout Europe. And he seems to be relatively young in age - judging by the site, only 20 years old. Nothing special. If suddenly interesting old photos hadn't come out on one of the resources.
So, get acquainted - the Le Fresnoy dance center of 1930, in the same place:
There is a territory, a dance hall, a restaurant. The territory is completely ennobled, but there are some columns with rings on it. Stop.
Promotional video:
What are these rings and where are they directed? Obviously in one place. Which one?
Well, actually, nothing new. Officially called "dovecote". Approximately the same, but in a slightly different variety, is described here. If you look closely, the rings on the edge of the tower are not located strictly perpendicular to the tangent to the circumference of the dome, but are turned in a strictly defined direction, namely on similar pillars. And on top of the dome, objects well known from previous articles are circled in blue. On the first floor of the tower, there is obviously a dance floor. The tower itself, judging by the upper part, is capital, it does not produce the status of a temporary structure. Its entire structure rests on four pillars in the center. And in the tower itself, under the roof, there is something, to which the rings along its edges are directed. What was there and what material the roof was made of, one can only guess. What is there now?
From what was, nothing at all. Even the gate with the fence was gone. Knowing the scrupulousness of Europeans in matters of protection of cultural monuments, it is very difficult to guess why everything was demolished. Perhaps, the events of the Second World War influenced, but in this territory the hostilities were not active, and besides, the Europeans, unlike us, have always restored even half-destroyed cultural monuments. Very strange. And there is almost no information on the network why our entertainment facility suddenly disappeared. From what we have been able to find out, there is very little information.
The building itself was also demolished and a completely new one was built in its place. If you look closely, on the oldest building there are also incomprehensible objects. While the upper ones can still be mistaken for flagpoles, the lower ones defy explanation. Another detail is that the building is metal, and therefore powerful heating is needed to maintain the temperature in winter. There are no pipes above the building. If we reconstruct the master plan, we get the following:
Our pigeon tower stood somewhere in the designated place, and the new building occupied the same square as the old one (or several old ones). And the building, judging by the site, was built in 1997. And what happened in this place during the period 1930-1997? The network has information that open sports facilities were built at that place. It is difficult to say why it was needed here, but the metal buildings on that place were no longer exactly.
Pay attention, the tower is already without windows and with an open drum, but the pillars with rings are still preserved. In the lower photo, the word "sport" is clearly inscribed by a retoucher. And the trees look like the others are younger. What was the tower like before?
As you can see, a lot has changed. Judging by the fact that there is no regular permanent staircase to the top in the structure, the permanent stay of the personnel there was not provided. If there was some kind of device, it did not require constant monitoring. And control devices, if any, were in the basement.
Please note that the lighting garlands hang separately and have no electrical connection with the pole. Our pillars with rings, most likely, shone with some object that stands above the ring. There is another interesting photo.
Pay attention again to the wall of the house opposite the gate to our establishment, there is some object hanging there. This is clearly not a TV antenna. If you look closely, the side stripes on this item are slightly curved. It's hard to know where this subject is headed. What could it be? In general, everything is simple. This item is a kind of wireless pole, which was fixed to the house instead of a pole, and tell me that you forgot to hang wires again. Now at this place there is nothing of the kind (in the photo, obviously, the entertainment complex itself is just being built).
Well, probably so everything is clear, it's time to draw conclusions. And the conclusions are simple - this is yet another proof of the existence, quite recently, of systems for obtaining electricity from the atmosphere and transmitting it over a distance without wires. In our case, electricity was generated by the same pigeon tower, and the transmission was carried out by poles with rings, along the way, perhaps, combining these functions with lighting. According to my assumptions, this system additionally carried out lighting and heating of the dance hall premises, but how it looked technically, only at the level of assumptions, which should not be emphasized now. And it looks very strange that it was all dismantled without convincing reasons.
All the best, see you again.