turn a loss things is part of being human . Your notecase can fall on the base of a taxi . Your earpiece could drop away from your pouch on the bus . You might set your camera down on a bench and forget to beak it back up . If you ’re very prosperous , you may be able to tail down your misplaced self-control . If you ’re inParis , retrieving it might just be an risky venture .
The Lost and Found on the rue des Morillons
On the metropolis ’s rue des Morillons , you ’ll find a massive storage deftness with a fascinating assembling : everything that ’s been lost in Paris . TheService des Objets Trouvés , or Bureau of Found Objects , is a centralized misplace and found . Things misplaced at airport and museum , on trains and autobus , or simply dropped in thestreetall make their way here to be categorize and store , waiting for their owners to arrive . The office staff receives more than 500 items every day .
The Bureau of Found Objects is dispense by the police prefecture , part of the French Ministry of the Interior . It ’s a relatively modern mathematical operation now , but the French have been in the business sector of reunite the great unwashed with their thing for century . During the Middle Ages and under theAncien Régime , ( the feudalistic organization that ruled the Kingdom of France until the French Revolution ) , " lose objects must be get back to the lord who must then have the find in public announced three Sundays in a row , " a medium representative of the police force prefecture write in an electronic mail assertion . " In the absence seizure of a call , the objects go to the lord . "
The History of the Paris Lost and Found
In 1804 , the lost and witness system was centralise and the police prefecture take over . " The Prefect of Paris required the police commissioners to bring to the prefecture the find objects that would have been deposit in their offices , " the statement show . Still , the religious service was n’t very well - known or wide used until 1850 , when it moved into a new construction on rue du Harlay ( near the Palais de Justice ) . It took off and , according to the prefecture , " about 10,000 object were deposited there every year . "
In 1939 , the spot moved to its current location : a Brobdingnagian basement space at 36 , rue des Morillons . fit in to Colleen Shaughnessy - Larsson , who ’s been indite guides to lesser - known Parisian spot on her blog , Colleen ’s Paris , for more than a decade , the computer architecture and aesthetic of the construction that houses the Bureau of Found Objects is part of what makes it unique . On her sojourn to the ornately forest - paneled office , " it sacrifice the atmosphere of a step back in time , " she enounce in an email consultation .
In 2004 , the Bureau celebrated its two-hundredth natal day . The prefecture stops short of call it the first lost and rule office of its kind ( thoughThe New York Timesdid in 2005 ) , but certainly , they say , " it is one of the oldest in the world . "
While Shaughnessy - Larsson notice that " the back elbow room is filled with shelves of tagged items , " the goal of the office is n’t simply to house Paris ' misplaced items . Their work is much more proactive .
The Mission of the Bureau of Found Objects
" The main mission of the lost prop service is to collect forgotten or misplace effects … identify the owner and keep them until they are pass on over to them , " accord to the prefecture . " In the best font , an object found may be at the base of its legitimate proprietor the day after its arrival at the bureau . "
The bureau ’s employee spend a great deal of time and elbow grease reunify people and their things . Items with a return reference — like wallets turn back IDs and driver ’s licence — are easy enough to mail out . Other lost items are reclaim by owners who come looking , speak to someone at a window , take out a slip describe the thing they ’ve lost and pay 11 euro in " custody fees . "
" I have a winner story , " says Shaughnessy - Larsson . " A duet lost their photographic camera while on vacation . " The couple reached out to her and asked that she take a head trip to the Bureau of Found Objects on their behalf . " With the verbal description , I finally found their camera at the lost and found office . "
Sometimes , if an point ’s been turned in by an individual , no one has come expect for it , and the post has been ineffective to find its original owner , the Hellenic principle of " finders keepers " lend oneself .
" The unclaimed object can be made available to the person who find it ( the inventor ) under certain stipulation , " says the prefecture . " There is an exclusion to this principle : Objects contain personal data can not be returned to discoverer . In particular , estimator , tablet and smartphones fall into this category of object . "
Unclaimed item that might contain sensitive data point are finally destroyed . Other things , after a sealed time period of clock time , " are handed over for sales event for the benefit of the State , " according to the prefecture . Auctions are held for items like " latest - genesis jewellery , information processing system , telephone and photographic equipment and any other valuables . "
A Museum of the Strange and Unclaimed
A small collection of unclaimed things — the peculiarly interesting , historically important or just apparently weird — is exhibit in a corner of the depot area that mathematical function as a modest museum of sorts .
" Some are grisly , " wrote John Tagliabue for The New York Times , referring to a collection of several human skulls and a 10 - old prosthetic ramification . " Some are historic : a Napoleonic - era saber ; helmets , including one from a World War I French poilu , or soldier . Others are scientific : a tripod and scope from Victorian England ; a boxed set of 200 light-colored down butterflies . "
In recent years , the Bureau of Found Objects has undergo a technical climb and begun offer transport . Now , it ’s possible for a loser to " record the loss of his aim , pay the hands fee online and welcome his object at his home , " say the prefecture . " The religious service is intended to be elementary . The shipping service , newly coiffure up , is a great achiever . "
Every day , object recede in Paris are box up and sent off , back to their homes around the world : " a suitcase in Japan , a wallet in Singapore , a comforter in the United States . " concord to the prefecture , " the joy of find your lose objective is general . "
The Service des Objets Trouvés , or Bureau of Found Objects , of the Police Prefecture is located at 36 rue des Morillons 75732 Paris cedex 15 .
Visithttps://objetstrouvesprefecturedepolice.franceobjetstrouves.frfor more entropy .
