On the Internet, an image of an unusual house, located, judging by the signatures to the photo, in the Belgian city of Liege, was dispersed. We decided to check if there is a similar building.

A picture of the "wonderful preserved medieval house in the Belgian city of Liege" can be found on Portals for storage Photos And entertaining sites. Social networks (""VKontakte" Instagram*, Threads*) Actively share them on their pages. Particularly popular photo in Facebook*where are they publications Get thousands Likes and reposts.

The first thing that is in doubt about the authenticity of the photo: it spreads in only one version. “Verified” failed to find pictures of the building from other angles or at another time of the year. Also, not one of the posts has the address of the house, only an indication that he is in Liege.

The earliest publication Pictures found using a reverse search for the image of Google Images were made on February 10, 2024 on Instagram Thierry Leshanther. Its authorship is also evidenced by the signature located in the upper right corner. Lesantore “The Belgian vanguard artist, who, as indicated on his website, explores the border between traditional photography and artificial intelligence.” The site has a whole chapterdedicated to real photographs of Liga, the artist’s hometown, but they all do not look as fabulous as in a viral picture. But it Account On Instagram is almost completely dedicated to images of unusual architecture created using neural networks.

The publication with the hungering photo indicates that this is the creation of the owner of the account, and not the real place located somewhere in Barcelona or Liege. The author of the post also noted that the image is not related to the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. Its buildings are inherent in a bizarre-fi style, similar to the building in a viral photo, and this could cause the appropriate associations among users. Despite the fact that there are really #Liège and #belgium tags under the post, there is also a tag and #midjourney - a neural network, with the help of which, apparently, this picture was created.

As for the "medieval" of the building, it also raises questions. “Verified” turned to the historian of architecture and art critic Sergei Kavtaradze and asked if anything similar could be built in the Middle Ages?

“We must admit that AI created a rather convincing picture. In principle, if it were positioned as the creation of a modern follower Friedensraha Hundertwasser, that is, as a professional game in Vernacular architectureMost would not have arisen suspicions.
Also, the image to a certain extent is close to the experiments of Ar-Nuvo, including Antonio Gaudi. Actually, stained glass lunet The balcony is clearly borrowed from some real work, and the lines of ceramic panels on the facade are called upon to be associated with Casa Batlló Great Catalan.
The least resulting image can be attributed to the Middle Ages, and the main argument here is the one that the real prototypes of this type of architecture does not seem to know, except in the cinema of the fantasy genre. For example, no Fahverka, characteristic of medieval European development and well known to us from illustrations for fairy tales. Moreover, if you look closely, the arched openings are clearly framed by the late decor, something from the arsenal of neo-Renaissance or neo -omanieism. ”

Sergei Kavtaradze draws attention to the apricot of the roof, which, rather, resembles fragments of reed roofs of rural buildings. Also, according to the historian of architecture, the exhaust and stained glass windows of the lower window are borrowed from the samples of the last third of the XIX century, and the kilo -shaped platband on the right sash owes its appearance to jewelry. It turns out that the medieval house could not be built in the indicated period: the architectural historian sees in it a combination of decorative elements borrowed from the art of the XIX - XX centuries.

It is not the first time that Internet users take the creation of neural networks for a pure coin and distribute them as a photo of really existing buildings and/or objects. So, “verified” previously refuted the truthfulness of the image of futuristic underground floors Sydney Opera Theater and the appearance of amazing bright pink Dolphinnot to mention numerous generated photo Real people - politicians, actors, leaders of public opinion.

Thus, the image of the “wonderful preserved medieval house” turned out to be only one of the creations of artificial intelligence, which are increasingly becoming viral and spread by network users as real photos. However, even if the building really existed, it could hardly be built in the Middle Ages, as indicated in most posts accompanying the picture.

*The Russian authorities consider Meta Platforms Inc., which owns social networks Facebook, Instagram and Threads, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: Instagram Thierrylechanteur