Mansion Time Capsule is Open!

Oneupmanship has existed since before Cain killed Abel.  (Do you think Abel would still be alive today if he hadn't showed off?) Mark Twain held his autobiography from being published until 100 years after his death and Louis Mantin did the same thing with the mansion above when he died in 1905.  Now the beautiful abode is a virtual time capsule waiting for the public.

Louis Mantin was an aesthete and gentleman of leisure who bequeathed his opulent home to the town of Moulins on condition that a century later it be a museum.

After he died in 1905, the mansion was closed up and fell into dilapidation. Now thanks to a 3.5m euro ($4.7m; £2.9m) refit funded by local authorities, it has been returned to its original pristine state.

The result is a remarkable time-capsule, combining rich fin-de-siecle furnishings, archaeological curios, skulls and other Masonic paraphernalia, a collection of stuffed birds, as well as the latest domestic gadgets such as electricity and a flushing loo.

Born in Moulins in 1851, Mantin had an undistinguished career as a civil servant, but at the age of 42, he inherited a fortune from his father and thenceforth dedicated his life to pleasure, science and the arts.

Mantin only had a few years to indulge his aesthetic fantasies. Knowing that his death was approaching, he made a will in which he made sure his treasured house would be saved.

"In the will, he says that he wants the people of Moulins in 100 years time to be able to see what was the life of a cultured gentleman of his day," said assistant curator Maud Leyoudec.

"A bachelor with no children, he was obsessed with death and the passage of time. It was his way of becoming eternal."

Some confusion surrounds the exact terms of the will.

According to local people, Mantin specifically said that the house should be locked up for a century and then opened up to the public.

In fact, Mantin stipulated simply that in 100 years time the mansion should be a museum. He said nothing about what should happen in between.

The fact that the house was totally abandoned was thus not a predetermined condition - it was just what actually took place.

What a neat little story!  Can't you imagine Daniel Day Lewis as the death-obsessed frenchmen playing with paperdolls of men in the future going through his house.  This video is the only one I can find and it is in French.

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