Tour The Quaint French Village That Was Abandoned 40 Years Ago After Charles De Gaulle Airport Opened Nearby

Twelve miles outside of Paris, there's a pastoral and picturesque village known as Goussainville.

Almost no one lives there.

In 1972, the Charles de Gaulle Airport was built right next door in the town of Roissy. The farming village of Goussainville was directly in the flight path.

With the constant noise of planes flying overhead, the village's 144 homes were slowly abandoned as families moved away, many of them without bothering to sell their property.

Then in 1973, the supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashed during the Paris Air Show, killing all six people on board. Eight other people were killed on the ground in Goussainville after the plane destroyed several buildings, including the abandoned school.

Nowadays, only a few families remain living in what is now virtually a ghost town.

But even with all the decrepit buildings, the French village remains gorgeous.

From the classified historic monument Eglise St. Pierre et St. Paul Church to the still-standing 19th-century manor homes, Reuters photographer Charles Platiau shows there's still beauty despite the city's neglect.