Club 47

While traveling down Route Nationale 21 in southwestern France, you may stumble across an abandoned discotheque that has become all the more vibrant since shutting its doors.

Although Club 47, between Villeneuve and Agen, has stood abandoned since sustaining considerable fire damage in 2000, local street artists have worked for years to turn the building into a massive art project. 

While the colorful murals are now clearly visible from the roadside, that wasn’t always the case. The graffiti covering Club 47 began as a few pieces along the back wall, that were deliberate about avoiding attention. But as word spread, so did the murals, as more and more artists came to leave their mark on the nightclub. Although no one asked permission to start spray-painting, it appears to have been granted retroactively, as local policemen began stopping by… to take photos. 

Now, both the building’s interior and exterior have been given new life and, as a result, it’s not so abandoned anymore. Thanks to the site’s prominent location, it’s become something of an accidental tourist location, with travelers pulling over to the side of the road to explore the colorful club.