France. Murbach phone box becomes an unexpected tourist sensation

In a small French commune near the Swiss border, tourists have started to be interested in a certain object. The only functioning phone box in the country has unexpectedly gained immense fame.

The phone box is in Murbach in the Upper Rhine department. Until recently, the town was primarily known for its magnificent landmark - the 18th-century Benedictine abbey. Now tourists have started to be interested in something else.

AFP reports that the functioning public phone has gained unexpected popularity in recent weeks. The box stands next to the city car park. Due to the terrain in Murbach, it is impossible to install mobile phone transmitters, although there is the Internet. Box number 468 is used for emergency calls. It has no slot for coins or cards, which were once used in such machines.

Box 468, however, has its phone number, which can be called. And since the media published it, the phone keeps ringing - said Esmeralda Mura, a representative of the Esmeralda mayor's office, to AFP. The official left paper and a pen in the box so someone who answered the call could jot down the conversation.

As AFP reports, the sound of the ring is heard regularly, though sometimes to no avail. Occasionally, someone picks up the receiver out of curiosity.

One person who happened to answer the phone in the box was Jean-Paul Grasser from Strasbourg, who had a brief phone conversation with a stranger calling from Amiens. The 80-year-old Grasser tells AFP that such a conversation is connected to good memories for him. Without going into details, he recalls that 30-40 years ago, when he had to conduct some secret phone conversations, he did so from just such a phone box.

Box 468 is also called by Alex Thibaud, a 46-year-old entrepreneur. He was heard by an AFP journalist who picked up the receiver. The businessman argues that relations between people used to be better, but today, technology has attached people to smartphones. Tour guide Thomas Studer says that the town tours previously ended in the medieval garden area. Now, the last stop is the phone box.