The topics of this blog are Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Duke of Richelieu, and the IDEAL CITY built on his command next to his magnificent CHÂTEAU on the borders of Touraine, Anjou and Poitou, in France.

Wednesday 7 September 2011

The new tourist office 1 - Progress...

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CLICK HERE for an article on the town's acquisition of the 'Grand Colbert'...

click here to make a financial contribution to the project....



The project is being financed by, amongst others, the FONDATION DU PATRIMOINE which is a French organisation that has been set up to support important redevelopments or restorations that fall outside the normal boundaries of projects that are the direct responsibility of the State.  While it is directly assisted by many corporate patrons, even Mme. Bettencourt of L'Oréal - 'Europe's Richest Woman' -  it welcomes donations by any individual, and has set up the means to receive these funds - see 'click here' above!



The future location of the tourist office, next to the church
on the place du Marché
the hôtel particulier façade

the opposite number, symmetrically across the square
the location of the former ground floor tabac

le grand colbert was on the upper floors

down the rue de Loudun looking east
***

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

M. Proust

You're doing excellent work documenting the town.

What about an occasional post about the surrounding countryside (and changes since the 17th century?)

It would be interesting to know what how the local inhabitants lived (before, presumably, they populated the town?)

All the best

Keith

Abbé Henri Proust said...

Thanks for your kind words. Richelieu used to be centre for the production of white (baby) veal for the Paris market. That is why the railway extension was built in the 19th century to connect with the SNCF at Chinon, 20km away. But nowadays every one is squeamish about eating 'baby' cows, so the trade has disappeared and the railway is derelict. Except for goats for goats cheese (five local appellations; St. Maure etc.), the agriculture around does not specialise in livestock but more sunflowers and cereals, and of course wine (Chinon AOC).

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