Once standing as symbols of prosperity within the luxurious interiors of grand European villas, these broken pianos have played their last tunes, now rotting among ruins. Photographer Romain Thiery traveled throughout France, Belgium, Italy, Germany and Poland to find abandoned mansions and other buildings where a forgotten piano might still stand, looking forlorn and forgotten in their crumbling settings.

“As a pianist myself, emotion takes over when I discover a neglected piano,” says Thiery. “This is the culmination of my art: my two passions are then united in one and the same feeling.”

Each of the abandoned places captured by Thiery for the ‘Requiem for Pianos’ series is in a slightly different stage of decay; some are only just beginning to show the ravages of time, the spaces looking almost like they’re still occupied, while others are speckled with black mold, the floors awash in fiberglass insulation, brick walls half-fallen.

The state of each subject, meanwhile, is sometimes slightly out of step with its surroundings, as if reflecting the individual piano’s personality and will to survive. Some are nearly destroyed in rooms that are just a little neglected, while others seem more persistent, as if they could still be convinced to revive for the right player.

The series is also notable for the heartbreaking beauty of the villas themselves, with all of their hand-crafted details, beautifully shaped glass windows, herringbone wood floors, scrolling wrought iron banisters and even portraits still hanging on the walls. Sometimes they give you a sense of who might have lived there, and what they might have been like, but many are too far gone for that. It feels like such a waste, and makes you wonder what happened to the structures and the former players of all those pianos.

88 keys and nothin’ on… except dust, dirt & decay. These 12 abandoned pianos may irk music lovers but cheer those who live life slightly out of tune.

New York Minuet

(image via: James and Karla Murray Photography) OK, so abandoning pianos is a thing now. Take the East River Piano, a now-silent Mason & Hamlin found wallowing (when the tide’s in) and waterlogged on the Manhattan side of the river, under the Brooklyn Bridge. It couldn’t have been easy to lug the 300-lb behemoth down to the riverside but someone (probably with a little help) did just that sometime towards the end of May, 2014. (images via: Canoe.ca/REUTERS/Carlo Allegri) Photographer Carlos Chiossone told NBC 4 New York he was out for a walk and noticed a photo shoot taking place on and around the piano. “But then they left,” said Chiossone, “and the piano is still there.” Who will remove the #EastRiverPiano and when? The City Parks Department issued a short statement saying the beach is not under their jurisdiction, or in the words of the late Freddy Prinze, “It’s not my job, man.”

Piano Tree Oh

(image via: WeirdWood) Artist Jeff Mifflin’s Piano Tree was a so-called “living installation” set in a forested area just off the Disc Golf Course at California State University in Monterey Bay. Mifflin took an old stage piano and after some judicious sawing, made it appear an ancient tree was growing out of the old upright’s heart. The tree continued to grow even after it was unnaturally mated, however, and would be evolving today if a drunken music-hater had not taken his frustrations out on the artwork.

Leaves Behind

(images via: Zariat) “I encountered an abandoned piano yesterday,” states blogger and photographer Zariat, and “I was charmed by the elegance it maintained while slowly decaying beneath the fallen leaves.” That’s the thing about abandoned pianos: while definitely fish out of water, they seem to maintain a certain degree of dignity regardless of how pitiable and perilous their situation.

Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player

(image via: Reddit/red321red321/Imgur) Why was this Russian soldier playing an abandoned piano? Because it was there! And by “there” we mean Chechnya, sometime in 1994 shortly after the advent of the First Chechen War. It’s not known if the piano was ticking when the soldier began tickling the ivories, nor if the instrument was rigged to explode should the player hit a bum note.

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Agony Ivory 12 Not So Grand Abandoned Pianos