An apartment located in Paris has been discovered after lying vacant for more than 70 years. Remarkably the apartment was full of priceless pieces of rare furniture and artwork. The home which had been untouched for seven decades was discovered around three years ago after the owner passed away aged 91. The luxurious home belonged to Mrs De Florian, who had fled Paris right before the Nazi invasion of the city during the Second World War.

She left for the south of France and never returned to her Paris home. 70 years on, when the apartment was opened again it looked like no-one had set foot inside for that whole time. The apartment appeared to be stuck in a time warp and had some rather valuable possessions inside. The apartment was located near a church in Paris’s 9th arrondissement, between Pigalle red light district and Opera. Experts were tasked with taking an inventory of her belongings which astonishingly included a painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini, said to be worth a fortune.

One expert remarked that it was like coming across the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had been standing still.  The Boldini painting was of a beautiful Frenchwoman who turned out to be the artist’s former muse and Mrs de Florian’s grandmother, Marthe de Florian, a beautiful French actress and socialite of the Belle Époque.  The piece was put up for auction and sold for £1.78million, a world record for the artist.