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[?]	Copyright © 2010 Serge Maandag, Some Rights Reserved.

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The Mesen Castle was named after the last owner of the property, The Royal Hospice of Mesen. The hospice was founded in and on top of the ruins of the Institute of Mesen. The property dates back to the 10th Century. This impressive neo-gothic building was nominated in 1979 as protected monument, but due to procedural errors, it lost its protective state.

Sadly the state this building is in is quite common in Belgium. The country is an urban explorers dream. Needless to say, it is not allowed to enter the premises, due to extreme danger of collapsing floors and falling rocks. It took me a while to gather the nerve to step inside. Along with the excitement of sneaking in a dangerous building came the sadness and fantasies of how beautiful it must have been. As it turns out, I must have been one of the last people to shoot photos on this spot. Half of the castle was planned for demolition 2 days later, with the rest to be followed in only a few weeks.

A monument with a history of over a 1,000 years. Killed in 10 years, but not entirely forgotten...

Geographic Coordinates: Latitude: 50° 58' 4.03" N Longitude: 3° 59' 9.1" E Elevation: 45 Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot. Show at MultiMap.com [what is MultiMap?] Show at Google Maps [what is Google Maps?] Show in Google Earth* [what is Google Earth?] * requires Google Earth installed on your computer Date/Time: June 20, 2010, 18:05 Equipment: Shot with a Nikon D300, a Nikkor 10.5mm, a Nodal Ninja 3 and a Manfrotto tripod. Edited with PTGui Pro 8.3.10 and Photoshop CS2