Photos

This windmill is located in Nanterre, on the "Mont Valérien", a hill which offers a great point of view over Paris and the west of Paris. It is not used anymore and cannot be visited.

Although it is not sure, this mill has probably been built during the 15th century. The technic of the mills has been brought into France by the crusaders and more specifically into the Ile-De-France during the 14th century. Other mills were in the Nanterre territory (le moulin à Bulet, le moulin Noir, le moulin d’Hérode, le moulin du Quignon) but all of them have been destroyed so that the Moulin des Gibets is now the only one.

During the Middle Ages, the mills, as well as the gibbets, belonged to the local lord. The gibbets were located on high points in order to be easily seen and to show the authority of the lord. This mill belonged to the Figueur family from 1774 to 1785, and to the Guidard family from 1785 to 1840. After the war between France and Prusse, the Chauveau brothers bought the mill and decorated the garden.

In 1949, the city of Nanterre bought the domain and used it as a place for children. Mr Lacombe, a carpenter from the Lot department, restored the tower, the roof made of chestnut tree and the wings (24 meters).

More details can be found on www.moulins-a-vent.net, on the website of Nanterre, in the section "Le mystère du moulin des gibets" or in "Oh ! Quelle histoire.", Bulletin n°19, Volume 3, Décembre 1997, Société d’Histoire de Nanterre.

This shot was taken during sunset. The contrast was too important between the highlights and the shadows and I had to underexpose to keep the warm light on the mill.
I did a capture sharpening. Then I corrected the lens distortion and rotated the picture (I didn't have any tripod to shoot). I used a contrast mask to open up the shadows. I increased the saturation +20 to restore the warm colors I saw on the field. I finally added a little frame, resized it for TE limits and used Luko's script.

This is at least the 30th shot of this mill I captured before sharing it with you and I hope you will like it !