Lenny Vries, Varend kasteel "Vlotburg" / Floating castle "Vlotburg"

images in this article are screenprints from 
videos in the documentation

A fifty meters long floating castle with an interior decorated by hand in an artistic style, its exterior visible in the first three images, this can be considered as a truly unique outsider art environment ...

The ship named Vlotburg is originally a Rhine barge and, as can be seen in the image above, it holds a Dutch status.

It has its home port in Alkmaar, a municipality in the province of North Holland.

Life and work

The castle-like exterior of the museum ship was crafted by Lenny Vries, also known as Knight  Lenny..

Born in 1950, he felt like a knight from an early age and in this context he wanted to transform a ship into a floating castle.

He gave expression to this vision by creating a scale model of such a castle-ship.

In 2002 he could buy in Belgium a suitable cargo ship built in 1924, measuring 50 meters in length and 6.6 meters in width. 

And then he could realize his dream.

Knight Lenny in his distinctive traditional costume

He went to the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in Germany in search of wood for the design, visited various farms and actually managed to gather 60 tons of solid oak beams.

A friendly vegetable merchant from the Netherlands offered to transport this large quantity of wood to the Netherlands, since his truck was empty on the return journey anyway.

Christel, Lenny's partner

Because of a fortunate set of circumstances, Lenny came into contact with a shipyard in Zaandam, a city located along the river Zaan, just north of Amsterdam. This company offered  him not only a reasonable price but also full cooperation.

Lenny Vries also had a good friend, the carpenter Jan Westerhuis, who was willing to assist him in carrying out the project.

The construction project would take three years.

A glimpse of the interior

The ship's interior is richly filled with various decorations created by Lenny Vries, such as the figure in the image above, seated on a rope-suspended rocking chair, accompanied by a black bird on a bed of straw.

Another scene shows, as can be presumed, a simply dressed couple wearing headgear, seated at a table laden with drinking glasses and a meal on a platter, a scene with a medieval character.

The image above shows a fragment of a suit of armor handmade by Lenny Vries, displayed as a decorative element, alongside a view into a section of the ship's interior behind it, where various ropes, most likely essential for sailing, are stored.

Finally, the image above shows a sign displaying various notices for visitors.

A pony on board

Lenny Vries shares his life not only with his partner Christel, but also with Hercules, a pony coming from a circus where he proved untrainable and now feeling completely at ease in Lenny’s company.

The floating castle on tour.

The Museumship Vlotburg regularly makes trips along rivers and canals in the Netherlands and the surrounding area, mooring for several days at locations easily accessible to visitors.

Another floaiing art environment in the Neterlands

The Netherlands was home to yet another floating art environment, one that did not travel but was surrounded by various floating structures and featured an interior with artistic decorations. This vessel was the home of Walter Glück (1929–1986), better known as Vikror IV.

Born in New York, he acquired Dutch citizenship after traveling through many European countries in 1961 and settled on a boat moored along the Amstel River in the heart of Amsterdam. Following his death, the structures surrounding the vessel gradually disappeared and the boat took on a conventional appearance.

Documentation

* Website of the floating castle.

* Article  (January 2024) in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant with intersting photos of Nynke Brandsma

* Article  ((January 2024) in Dutch newspaper RTV Utrecht 

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Videos

* Video (December 2025) by KeiTV

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* Video (May 2025) by Omroep Lekstroom

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* Video (January 2020) by NH News

Lenny Vries

Floating castle "Vlotburg"

Home port in Alkmaar, province of North Holland, Netherlands

Emilienne Chatenet, Une maison remplie de collections / House full of collections

 

images published here in agreement with Francis David

A house filled with collections does not necessarily have to possess an artistic aura, yet the images in this article display such a colorful and artistic character that one could speak of an art environment in the capacity of a decorated interior.

Life and works

The collection was assembled by Emilienne Chatenet, who lived in Romainville, a suburb east of Paris, and passed away there in 1995 at a later age.

As a child she created images of birds, and later she turned to fortune-telliing and homemade tarot cards.

However, she gradually came to feel that the latter practice in particular resulted in all her positive energy being spent on others, so she stopped doing it.

She married and had a son who brought her a small box of matches in 1945.

She would never forget that moment, for it marked the beginning of a hobby that would define the rest of her life in assembling a variety collections. It did not stop at that single matchbox, it grew into a collection of 4,500 items.

The collection comprises a multitude of items, such as matchboxes, beer caps, wine bottle stoppers, telephone dials, lighters, buttons, labels, badges, plastic spoons, crown caps, decorated cushions, and so on.

The images above show parts of Emilienne Chatenet's collection.The top image in particular reveals its artistic character.

We see her standing there in a light-blue Three Kings costume next to a miniature Eiffel Tower constructed from 360 yogurt cups, in a room with cabinets lining the walls that hold collections of all kinds of small decorated dishes and bowls.

It is unclear what happened to the collections after the death of Emillienne Chatenet in 1995

Documentation

*As far as I know, Francis David is the only one who has published photos of Emilienne Chatenet's collections (for example a photo of Emilienne on Instagram).

Emilienne Chatenet

House full of collections

Romainville, dept  Seine-Saint-Denis, region Ile-de-France, France

Gérard Larive, Pyramide de Cormatin / Pyramid of Cormatin

this scene. taken from a 13-second video by Gérard Larive, gives
an idea of the area that is transformed into an art environment

The house depicted above, together with the adjoining space transformed into an art environment with the allure of a pyramid as the leading motif, is located in the small village of Cormatin, in western France. 

The village has around 500 inhabitants and it has the characteristics of many small villages in the region, like there is a main road, a few shops, and a small restaurant. But Cormatin also has a castle that is situated in the middle of the village.

And just outside the village an artwork is located, that attracts considerable interest due to its unique theme, that is focused upon creating an art environment with the allure of a pyramid.......

this image and the next six are screenprints
from one of the videos by Gérard Larive

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Life and works

This art environment is a creation by Gérard Larive, who was born around 1952 and became a stonemason by profession, working in construction for many years.

He also felt the urge to express himself artistically, but hadn't an academic training in that respect. He has worked as an artist and mason since 1980, also particpating in various art exhibitions.

In 2007, when he was in his early 50s, he bought a plot of land near Cormatin measuring 4,000 m². He did this to give shape to his deep inner need to build a pyramid. Maintaining a scale of 1 to 5, he saw such a project as the adventure of his life.

As can be seen in the image at the very top, the wall on the right side of the complex is dominated by slanted panels, partly interrupted by sculptures.

Some of the surrounding images show those panels viewed up close.

Taken together, these panels appear to represent the base of a pyramid to scale. Official local building regulations only permit structures like these panels on a certain scale, and Larive has adhered to this.

The image below shows that in the center of the complex there is also a small-scale structure of four slanted rods, which are connected to each other at a point at the top and thus also depict a pyramid, but then on a small scale.

Due tot the design method, the art environment marks the most important aspects of the shape of a pyramid.

An additional design element is also that at the entrance to the complex there is the tomb located of an Egyptian deity, followed by a variety of sculptures in antique styles.

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The image below shows that in the center of the complex, there is a tower that can be entered by visitors to enjoy a panoramic view of the various creations.

As can be seen on above image the entrance to the tower is also the entrance to a sarcophagus.

Via a corridor one reaches two beautifully furnished rooms. 

The image below shows the first room, which contains the sarcophagus, a monumental coffin standing on the floor and adorned with a gold-colored sculpture. 

The second room contains a large rectangular element covered with a white sheet.

All walls and ceilings of the two rooms are stylishly colored.

Within the four walls of the more or less square complex, visitors often feel as if they are in ancient Egypt. 

Gérard Larive has the experience that people sense a positive atmosphere when visiting this art environment.

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Those visiting the art environment independently do not have to pay an entrance fee. A guided tour of the pyramid costs a few euros.

Those interested can extend their stay near the art environment, as Gérard's daughter, Carine Larive, is offering a cottage for rent on the grounds of the art environment with a minimum stay of two nights. 

The cottage is furnished in an ancient Egyptian style, featuring a bed that mimics an Egyptian sarcophagus. 

"Here I invite people on a journey, to experience things," Gérard Larive explains..

Documentation
* Article (August 2026) in newspaper Le Journal 200

* Article with some illustrations on Info Chalon

* Website of the site with it's history and other info

* Facebook

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Video

* Video (May 2026) on YouTube by Gérard Larive

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Gérard Larive

Pyramide de Cormatin

9 La Bergerie du Bas, 

71460 Cormatin, dept Saônne-et-Loire, region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

France

Google Streetview has a variety of images of the site

Uitstekende locatie - score: 9.4/10!(score gebaseerd op 49 beoordelingen)

Beoordeeld door gasten na hun verblijf bij Pyramide de Cormatin, Gite Insolite et Unique

Vytautas Jasinskas, Sodas su akmens skulptūromis / Garden with stone sculptures

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this image is a screenprint from the video in the documentation

In he northeast of Lithuania lies Kupiškis, a city with over 16,000 inhabitants, beautifully situated at the confluence of the Lėvuo and Kupa rivers. 

Culturally and economically, the city is an important center in the Panevėžys region.

this image and the next three published here .
in agreement with the website Pozicija.org

Life and works

As a renowned sculptor, Vytautas Jasinskas, who was born in the late 1940s, contributes to the cultural aspect of the city.

He had a difficult childhood because his father, who had escaped from a concentration camp, had to go into hiding and frequently change his place of residence.

Those circumstances also meant that Jasinskas, who had a clear talent as a draftsman, could not receive training as an artist, but had to learn a trade to help his father in earning a living.

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Jasinskas gained experience in stonemasonry while working in the monument workshop of the Kupiškis Domestic Service Complex. 

He learned from experienced craftsmen how to break, chisel and polish stones.

The work was not easy, because at the time, in the Soviet era, stoneworking technology was nowhere near as modern as it is now.

Many years passed, during which the young stonemason developed a fondness for artistic stone working .

The desire to reveal the natural beauty of the boulders in the fields, the desire to let the stone speak, grew ever stronger, until it eventually became his daily occupation.

Jasinskas recounts that when he worked as a stonemason at the former domestic services factory in Kupiškis, he and his colleagues were called upon by museum staff, not only to put their skills to use, but also to create works of folk art.

Currently Jasinskas lives in a house along Topolių Street, a relatively short street situated along the northeastern edge of Kupiškis, a place where the urban development gives way to green fields with a small hill.

There is a spacious green area between Jasinkas's home and the street, which he utilizes to situate his sculptures.

As the very fisrt image shows, people walking down the street have an unobstructed view of the sculptures displayed in Jasinska's art environment..

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Documentation

* Article (April 2023) on website Pozicija.org

* Article (May 2020) on newspaper Sekunde.lt

* Article (April 2023) on newspaper Ukininkopatarejas

Video

* Video by Jolita Pipynienė entitled Kupiškėna folk artist Vytautas Jasinskas (2018)  

Vytautas Jasinskas

Garden with stone sculptures

at the end of the Topolių street

Kupiškis, region Panevėžys, Lithuania

Erkki Pekkarinen, Koivuntuohimuseo / Birch Bark Museum

unless indicated otherwise images have been published here
in agreement with the (Finnish) Rural Education Association  
above image and the next one by Juho Haavisto

The image above shows a studio, which in addition to various materials, also includes two large-scale woven shoes in the background.

This is Erkki Pekkarinen's Bark Weaver’s Cottage in the small rural community of Asikkala in Finland.

The photo below shows him seated in his studio.

Life and works

The two scenes give an impression of Erkki Pekkarinen's house museum, which can be seen as a small-scale art environment.

Erkki Pekkarinen has become known as a virtuoso when it comes to weaving pieces of birch bark. He has made both the largest creation of woven birch bark shoes in the world, a work 2.7 meters high, and the smallest, which has a size of 3.8 millimeters.

He was born in 1936 in the city of of Lieksa and he now lives in Asikkala, in the region Päijänne Tavastia in the south of Finland.

His father was a carpenter by profession, but as a boy he had to learn to weave birch bark himself. He started doing this at a fairly young age, when he was some ten years old.

After his years in primary school, Pekkarinen went to work at a sawmill, where was enough material available to make wickerwork whenever he felt like it.

Portrait (2018) by Peter Holliday

One of his most iconic works, as in the image above, is a wearable three-piece suit made entirely out of woven birch bark. 

He regularly appears at the opening of art exhibitions dressed in this suit, complete with a woven Stetson hat made of tree bark and a tree bark briefcase.

The image below-left shows him in his entirety in this costume. 

this image courtesy of Veli Grano

this image courtesy of Veli Grano

In the image above-right, Pekkarinen can also be seen in this costume, but then, almost literally, at the foot of one of his gigantic creations.

Such a figure, more than five meters tall, was in 2017 placed in the courtyard of a hotel in his hometown.

At the hotel reception stands the giant's little brother, referred to in Finnish as Pikku-Erkki.

image by Raija Kalioinen

The world's smallest creations made of birch bark, created by Erkki Pekkarinen, have been on display at various exhibitions in Finland and have also toured England for two years.

Recently two notable developments occurred.

Firstly, the Asikkala Local Heritage Museum established a space where Pekkarinen's works are on display in an atmospheric setting. That space was opened to the public in late June 2026.

The museum's website shows an image of the wall cabinet in the studio that Pekkarinen had in his home (as in the first image in this post). It is possible that this cabinet, along with other creations, has moved to the museum.

Secundly, the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, USA, announced a new exhibition, opening on October 10, 2026, and running until September 5, 2027. This exhibition, titled Flaunt: When Appearance Speaks, also features work by Erkki Pekkarinen. 

The exhibition shows more than 60 works by various artists who often use processed everyday materials such as buttons, pipe cleaners or birch bark, like Pekkarinen.

Documentaion

*  Article on the website ITE Taide published by Maaseudun Sivistysliitto,  the (Finnish) Rural Education Association  

* Article  on the website of the municipality of Assikala

Video

* Video (2017) by Mike Inglis with Raija Kalioinen and Erkki Pekkarinen talking about his wickerwork (If you watch the video on YouTube, there is also accompanying information about the topics discussed)

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Erkki Pekkarinen

Birch Bark Stables

Asikkala Local Heritage Museum

Kirkkotie 43

17320 Asikkala, region Päijät-Häme, Finland

Pasi Keskisarjan, Seikkailupuisto "Crazyland" / Adventure Park "Crazyland"

this image as on Streetview
the location of Crazyland along the road

Northern Ostrobothnia, a region located in the north-central part of Finland, is the second largest in the country by area. It stretches from the Gulf of Bothnia in the west to the border with Russia in the east.

In the village of Maliskylä with some 250 inhabitants, which is part of the municipality of Nivala, lies Crazyland, a well-known adventure park in Finland featuring all kinds of miniature models, sculptures, and (artistic) installations.

this image and the next ones are taken from the video 
in the documentation made in 2026,
 published here in agreement with the photographer Hillbilly.

The development of Crazyland

The story of Crazyland begins in 2015.

It all started with Pasi Keskisarjan, an inhabitant of Nivala born in 1968, who dreamed of owning a model of an airplane and somehow realized that dream. 

However, the plane he acquired was so large that it did not fit in the garden aroud his house. So he looked around if he could rent a plot of land somewhere around Nivala to accomodate the plane. 

He found the site that now comprises Crazyland and initially planned to designate the area as a storage for caravans, but on second thought and probably in consultation with friends, he gave the site more the character of an exhibition space.

And so his airplane was the first item to end up on a piece of land that over the years would grow into an exhibition space open to the public and featuring all kinds of more or less artistic creations.

The space near the airplane was supplemented with a depiction of a control tower -portrayed below- and a representation of a runway.

The idea of ​​situating a kind of adventure park on the site was well received by many people and thus, over the years the park would take shape at a rapid pace.

With the exception oft the airplanes, all creations have been made by Pasi Keskisarjan, who had no artistic education.

A striking structure is the 14 meter high wooden copy of the Eiffel Tower, located at the the entrance, which can be seen in the image at the top of this article.

In addition to a reproduction of the world-famous Eiffel Tower, there is a creation dedicated to the equally well-known sinking of the Titanic, as in the image above.

The image below has on the left side reproduction of a rocket, likely an imitation of a historic 110 meter large American rocket that reportedly took astronauts to the moon in the 1960s.

The image below portrays a dancing young lady, internationally known as Marilyn Monroe.

And then there is a space craft in a flowerbed with a crew member from another world in the universe, situated on a round stone base filled with small-scale golf courses.

In addition to the images of Marilyn Monroe and the person from space, there is also a creation below representing Charlie Chaplin.

The scene below depicts a young lady playing a piano, 

and a little further down, an airplane can be seen in a somewhat peculiar position.

By now, the site also includes all kinds of inflatable, multicolored facilities, which are especially suitable for children to play on. 

Indeed, this art environment is still under development.

The park has services such as a kiosk, a golf course during the summer season, a few cottages to stay in, and a cottage for barbecuing.

Documentation

* Website of Crazyland

* Account of Crazyland on Facebook

* Series of images on ITE-art

* Article (March 2023) with illustrations on Finnish newspaper Seura

Videos

* Video  (August 2021) by Seppoy on YouTube

* Another video (July 2026) by Hillbilly on YouTube

 

Pasi Keskisarjan

Adventure Park "Crazyland"

Makkaratie 1311

85640 Maliskylä, region Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland

admission is free

the site on streetview

Remilio da Re, Casa del Castello / Castle House

all images courtesy of Giada Carraro

The castle-like structure depicted above is situated in a garden near a house in Orsago, a small municipality located in the province of Treviso, Italy.

The city, with some 3700 inhabitants (2003) is situated about 60 kilometers north of Venice.

 Life and works

The structure was created single-handedly by Remilio da Re, who was born in 1927 and died in 2003.

He was married and the couple had a few daughters.

Remilio da Re had a job as a bricklayer, working for a construction company, where he resigned in the 1960s for health reasons.

A castle-like creation

The 1960s were also the period in which he devoted himself fully to the construction of a castle-like structure, situated in the front garden of his house. For the construction, he used cement, mortar and stone.

The castle-like building rests on a sturdy concrete foundation, and the images in this post clearly show that the castle is not only equipped with numerous entrance doors and various windows, but that spread over the entire structure of the creation it features several round towers and various pointed roofs.

As far as is known, the design is not based on a structure located elsewhere that served as a model and source of inspiration, but the de Casa del Castello as a whole stems from the creative mind of Remilio da Re.

The castle-like creation does not stand on its own, but is surrounded by a number of smaller creations.

The family and descendants of Remilio la Re ensure the continued existence of his creations after his passing.

Documentation

* Article by Giada Carraro, about Remilio da Re on her website Bric-á-Brac Italia. (As far as I could ascertain, this is the only publication on the internet  about the creation).

Remilio da Re

Castle House

Orsago, region Treviso, Italy