The last telephone booth in France is constantly ringing
Published: Saturday, Aug 3rd 2024, 04:40
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People from all over the world have called one of the last public telephones in France since the number was published. Tourists and locals pick up the receiver in the telephone booth in the Alsatian municipality of Murbach.
"Allô, bonjour!" ("Hello, good afternoon") - this is how Marie-Line Le Gourrierec answers the phone in the telephone booth in the small Alsatian community of Murbach. Previously, the inconspicuous booth at the edge of the village parking lot had been ringing incessantly.
"Ah, you're calling from Nantes," says Le Gourrierec, who is on vacation in the Vosges. "Come to Alsace, it's beautiful and there's lots to see," recommends the western Frenchwoman and says goodbye. She then makes a note of the call and the time in a well-worn exercise book in the cabin.
Ever since the French magazine "Paris Match" reported last month that the Murbach telephone booth with the serial number 468 was the last of its kind in the country, the booth has hardly been quiet. The hexagonal telecommunications relic, whose doors are missing, has become a tourist attraction.
Answers can be given by all
Occasionally, residents or visitors pick up the blue receiver. There are no fixed rules in the remote commune near Guebwiller in the Haut-Rhin department. "Anyone can answer. And then you ask where these people are calling from and you write down their name," reports local resident Marie-Claude König. "We find it totally étonnant (amazing)," says the Alsatian with a view of the hype.
The municipality cannot say much about the rare object with retro charm. According to the town hall, they don't even know when the cell was installed by the former national telecommunications company France Télécom.
Three public telephones left in the country
A spokesperson for the successor company Orange confirmed to the German news agency DPA that Murbach does indeed have the last working booth in the entire country. There are also two other "publiphones", i.e. public telephones, for example in a town hall. But not in a booth. You can no longer pay on the three remaining devices. "It is only possible to receive a call."
Murbach, not far from the border with Baden-Württemberg, is actually known for its mighty abbey from the Middle Ages. The local tourist guide now also points out the new attraction of the village with around 170 inhabitants - the telephone box, reports visitor Le Gourrierec. The municipality is located in an area that is simply called the "zone blanche" ("white zone") in France. This means that, depending on the location, a mobile phone connection is either poor or not possible at all.
Tourist: "Somehow in the wrong movie"
"Well, I think it's mega strange," says German tourist Renate Gebhard. She also came to Murbach for the abbey and discovered the ringing phone booth. "I thought I was somehow in the wrong movie."
The curious cell has since sparked interest in many media and social networks. The tattered call booklet on the shelf contains names from France, Belgium, Switzerland, the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe and Canada.
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