In Goussainville, the rebirth of a ghost village

On a crumbling facade, the sign "Bakery" is still faintly visible. The door and windows are bricked up. The same is true for most of the houses in the village. The cobblestone sidewalks are overgrown with green moss. This state of disrepair has long given Vieux-Pays the image of a ghost town.

A reputation that the town hall of Goussainville intends to change. Since 2022, it has undertaken a vast revitalization operation, to "showcase this heritage", says Khader Berrekla, deputy director general of the town, forced to raise his voice to be heard over the noise of a plane flying over the village.

A return to life has begun after more than 50 years of neglect. The Vieux-Pays, located less than five kilometers from the runways of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, was virtually emptied of its inhabitants in the early 70s, during the airport's construction. At the time, the company Aéroports de Paris (ADP) committed to buying back, at above-market prices, all the houses located in areas too exposed to noise.

ADP planned to demolish them, but they hadn't counted on the Church of Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul, part of which dates back to the 13th century. Listed as a historical monument 100 years ago, the building protected all the houses within a 500-meter radius of the bell tower from destruction.

Around 300 people stayed despite the noise. The houses of those who left were saved but not maintained and are mostly in a deplorable state today.

"We could feel the walls shaking"

This is the case of this large building located on the village square, bordered by linden trees. In a few months, the old house, riddled with damp and with unstable floors, will be transformed into a café-restaurant and exhibition space.

"This is a resilience project with new activities that will create jobs, training, and a new economic dynamic," assures Khader Berrekla, convinced that the noise of the approximately 300 planes that pass over the village every day will not prevent the arrival of tourists.

"In the Concorde era, you could feel the walls shaking," comments Nicolas Mahieu, who has run the Vieux-Pays bookstore for 30 years, the only business still in operation.

"The setting is superb. It has retained its charm with the old stone," he says, satisfied with the ongoing rehabilitation work.

Just steps from the village square, a group of schoolchildren leave the castle park laughing. The children have just enjoyed themselves on a brand-new treetop adventure course. Opening in 2024, AbracadaParc is also part of the revitalization project.

"You really had to have a lot of imagination" to envision it, recalls Vanessa Schweitzer, its founder. "It was a wasteland, a squat, there was a lot of waste: carpet, scrap metal, beer cans."

Currently experiencing rapid growth, the leisure park also exploits the image of a ghost village with an escape game entitled "The Forgotten of Goussainville".

"You get used to the planes," promises Vanessa Schweitzer, who assures that when the sky is clear, the planes follow another air corridor and spare the village from their roar.