Monday, 1 July 2013
Sunday, 30 June 2013
Midsummer light, low from the north; the Mable overflows it's banks; a pretty 17th century walled town....
The floods of 20 June 2013 had one unexpected consequence; the town's moat - usually running nearly dry - was completely submerged, and we all could see a visual version of the town's walls that had not been viewed since the last flood; in 1952, they say.
While the moat and walls, originally paid for by the King Louis XIII at the foundation of the town, are impressive, the Abbé Henri P. now feels it is a shame that the original appearance of of the 'Walled and MOATED city' is seen so very rarely in the originally conceived condition. The most unencumbered stretch of the town's girdling wall is the part facing north-west, including the so-called Porte de Chinon. This situation is because the space inside the wall at this point was for most of its life since the 1640s, not minor houses as elsewhere, but a large nunnery. The service alley that runs round the three other sides of the town does not exist in this stretch, and so no houses came to be built against the wall on the inside face. Today it is the site of the town's multi-purpose hall. As a result the exterior moat has not been encroached with 'structures' and 'gardens' as elsewhere.
20th June - Midsummer's day - meant that the sunbeams of evening (maybe at 21 00h) washed the old north wall and towers with yellow light and long shadows. Shadows of the fantastical plane trees that shelter the little town from the prevailing wind.
The last coincidence for a photographer - the calm and pretty reflections on the surface of the water
mask the turbidity of the muddy water of the flood.
many more photos below
Thursday, 27 June 2013
The Grand Prix de Tours
The classic car rally called the Grand Prix de Tours took place over the weekend of 14-15-16 June 2013. The three-day event started with a meet-up in Tours, followed the next morning by a Rallaye 'avec roadbook' that took the cars on a long circuit of Touraine. The ballade, which stopped for lunch in the parc domainal of Richelieu, ended with a formal dinner at the château of Villandry for all the participants.
The domainal park of Richelieu is ideally suited as a destination for such vintage car rallies, and it was picturesque to see not only the wonderful old cars but the re-animation of the lonely park as it received 500 people to a fully catered luncheon on the grass. The isolation of the town at the junction of Touraine and Poitou means that the roads about are largely empty, and 'motoring' can still have the qualities that made for the pleasures of the 1950s - pleasures of the decades that manufactured many of these lovely old cars.
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Richelieu is flooded by the River Mable
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| rue Traversière - East |
On the 19 June 2013 there was a torrential storm over the cité idéale. It only lasted a couple of hours but, on the 20th - 24 hours later, all that rain from the wide valley up-steam of the town collected itself and was concentrated into the narrow river Mable - normally a stream - that flows past the town and feeds the moat of the walled city. Straight through the majestic waterworks of the old château, it tried to flow away into the river Vienne (15km away), and thence into the 'mighty' Loire (30km). Flooding was limited to the eastern side of the town, close to the rivers natural bed, but cellars throughout the town were filled and needed to be pumped out later by the Sapeurs Pompiers. Water depths in places were a metre deep.
The last time that the town was flooded by the river Mable was in 1952, when the innundation reached the steps of the church (on the western side of the town).
The town's dwellers helped each other clear up and improvised getting the water out with water-vacuum-cleaners and any squeegee to hand to help scrape up the mud.
Everyone concerned checked the terms of their (mandatory) domestic insurance policy.
The town's dwellers helped each other clear up and improvised getting the water out with water-vacuum-cleaners and any squeegee to hand to help scrape up the mud.
Everyone concerned checked the terms of their (mandatory) domestic insurance policy.
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Monday, 27 May 2013
Henri Dutilleux 1916 - 2013
“Everything that Dutilleux has written in the last decades belongs to the category of masterpiece”. These were the words of conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen regarding the French composer, Henri Dutilleux, who sadly died last week ( + 22 May 2013) at the age of 97. One of the great twentieth-century composers, he consistently gave us music full of wonderful sounds and ravishing orchestral effects. Nowhere is this more evident than in perhaps his best-known pieces, namely the concertos for cello (Tout un monde lointain) and violin (L’Arbre des songes). If you’re looking for an introduction to his music, then I’d suggest a 2-disc EMI set, which includes both of these concertos, featuring none other than Mstislav Rostropovich and Renaud Capuçon as the soloists.
Furthermore, there’s a truly outstanding disc from earlier this year, conducted by Salonen with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, containing one of my favourite Dutilleux pieces, Correspondances, for soprano and orchestra. This is most certainly worth a listen: not only is soprano Barbara Hannigan on typically amazing form, but I can think of no other orchestral piece that contains a duet (albeit a very brief one) for accordion and tuba!"
Resident of Candes-Saint-Martin
- 36.6 kilometres from Richelieu -
(and the Ile Saint Louis, Paris)
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"I'm afraid M. Dutilleux doesn't live here any more..." |
***
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Monday, 13 May 2013
The town's Mayors since the guillotine fell
La ville de Richelieu et ses Maires
The town of Richelieu and its Mayors
The town of Richelieu and its Mayors
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| Marianne |
- 1791 - PATTEAU François 10 years The Revolution
- 1801 - De La MOTTE 11 years
- 1812 - JAHAN Armand 3 years Napoléon Bonaparte
- 1815 - MARTIN Charles 11 years
- 1826 - TORTERUE Louis 4 years
- 1830 - FROGER René 4 years
- 1834 - De La MOTTE 1 year
- 1835 - RAGGONEAU 11 years
- 1846 - DELASSUS François 21 years! Napoléon III
- 1867 - HULIN 8 years Franco-Prussian War
- 1875 - FROGER Léonide 7 years
- 1882 - LUNET Jules 3 years
- 1885 - JARRY Henry 4 years rue Jarry? and the railway station?
- 1889 - ORILLARD Paul 9 years
- 1898 - BRIDEL Eugène 21 years WW1
- 1919 - PERROT Charles 6 years
- 1925 - PICHEREAU Oscar 12 years
- 1937 - MOULIN Fernand 9 years WW2 &; the Occupation
- 1946 - SELVESTRE Dr.Louis 12 years Liberation
- 1958 - FORTIER Dr.Marcel 31 years!
- 1989 - COQUERIE Gabriel 6 years
- 1995 - DEREUX Robert 6 years
- 2001 - GRAVEL Pierre 7 years La place du Marché
- 2008 - NOVELLI Hervé 5 years +.... La Halle de Richelieu
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| Maire Fortier, 1958 - 1989 |
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| Maire Coquerie, 1989-1995 |
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| Maire Dereux, 1995 - 2001 |
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| Maire Gravel, 2001 - 2008 |
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| Maire Novelli, 2008 - ...? |
The re-opening of the Halle...
Restored for the first time since the 1640s, 371 years after the death of the original client, the
cardinal duc Armand-Jean,
the town's market halle nears re-completion.
Modern regulations for food handling require a glass screen behind the restored railings,
but otherwise the structure is now historically impeccable - no expense has been spared.
A quality project - Bravo Hervé and his artisans!
Next restoration in 2384.
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| the official invitation to the opening |
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| the gate to the place du Marché |
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Franck Maubert and his 2013 novel 'Ville Close'
Franck Maubert (b.1955) a french novelist and essayist who has written a short novel concerning the strange qualities of the cité idéale of Richelieu. His first visit and the impressions formed were in the 1990s and this 2013 book sketches his perception of a little town dominated by its insistent stoney design and fabric. He was struck by recent bizarre real events; including a suicide - a 'defenestration' - of a young woman, and other rather odd aspects of the little population and their strange and surreal habits.
Some of the descriptions are only too recognisable from the reality!
Some of the descriptions are only too recognisable from the reality!
No references to the Abbé Henri Proust, thank goodness!
- 1985 : La Peinture moderne, éd. Nathan. Essai.
- 1997 : Lexique Toxique, éd.
- 2002 : Est-ce bien la nuit ?, éd. Stock, 136 pages. Roman.
- 2003 : Près d'elles, éd. Flammarion, 211 pages. Roman.
- 2005 : Le Paris de Lautrec, éd. Assouline.
- 2005 : Et les arbres n'en seront pas moins verts, éd. Assouline.
- 2005 : Gainsbourg for ever, éd. Scali, 136 pages.
- 2006 : avec Isabelle Maeght et Yoyo Maeght, Maeght: L'Aventure de l'art vivant, éd. de La Martinière, 309 pages. L'étonnante histoire de la famille Maeght.
- 2005 : La Mélancolie de Nino, éd. Scali, 136 pages.
- 2008 : Le Père de mon père, éd. Philippe Rey, 141 pages. Roman.
- 2009 : L'odeur du sang humain ne me quitte pas des yeux : Conversations avec Francis Bacon, éd. Mille et une nuits, 108 pages.
- 2012 : Le Dernier modèle, éd. Fayard / Mille et une nuits, 128 pages. Dans le Montparnasse de l'après-guerre.- Prix Renaudot de l'essai 20122.
- 2013 : Ville Close
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
The T & B's 'vin d'honneur' at the townhall, and a film-set town - empty for once!
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| Mayor Novelli receives his gift from the T & B Master, David Cole-Adams |
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| the Grande Rue cleared out for aerial drone film photography |
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| Dalek trees cannot climb stairs but they ARE a bit creeepy.... |
The Eminence Rouge would have been pleased by your company's visit and the excitement that you all brought to his cité idéale and even the young Abbé Henri Proust 'imself!
***
***
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Bienvenue! les Tylers et Bricklayers
STOP PRESS:
ABSOLUTELY PEACHY WEATHER
in
37120 RICHELIEU
in
37120 RICHELIEU
TODAY SUNDAY 21 APRIL 2013
STOP PRESS UPDATE:
METEO France OFFERS
- SUNNY DAYS WED/THURS/FRI -
STOP PRESS UPDATE:
METEO France OFFERS
- SUNNY DAYS WED/THURS/FRI -
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| the company's web site introduces the visit |
Next week, the little town of Richelieu will host the visit of a 30-strong party from the City of London's TYLERS and BRICKLAYERS company, one of the city's hundred or so livery companies - compagnonnages in French. They will stay at the hotel, the Puits Doré - located in the market square - and make expeditions to local destinations, some within the cité idéale itself. They will sample the sumptious luxuries of the Touraine table.
They will bring the best wishes from the Lord Mayor of London
Alderman Roger Gifford
to
Mayor Hervé Novelli.
Mayor Hervé Novelli.
They are all welcome.
Below
one or two buttons that take you to pages that might help orientate the curious visitor:
- A short history of the town
- A longer history of the town
- A map of the region
- A map of the town itself
- An aerial view of the town
- A video of the vanished château
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