HANGED HOUSE
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This house is a photographer's delight and a European attraction.
A curiosity worth pausing for on the road to the Valfréjus resort is the Maison penchée de Modane, a mountain version of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, which attracts photographers' attention and is a Europe-wide attraction. It may look like a movie set or a famous TV set, but it's not. Built in 1939 on a former powder magazine linked to the Mont-Cenis rail tunnel, this structure was originally an observation and defense blockhouse, in service since 1881 to monitor this strategic passage between France and Italy. In 1944, during their retreat, German forces methodically destroyed all road and rail structures to slow the Allied advance. At the entrance to the railway tunnel on the French side, the Germans positioned two wagons filled with explosives. The ensuing explosion blocked the gallery and destroyed the powder magazine, but surprisingly, the reinforced concrete blockhouse was not destroyed. Instead, it was thrown dozens of meters from its original location, leaving the building tilted at two highly unlikely angles, sunken into the ground and leaning to one side. Today, it is possible to enter this leaning structure, which is not really a house and is often covered in graffiti. An explanatory sign along the road tells this unusual story, offering the opportunity to take some amusing photos.
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