Cardinal Jules Mazarin; Richelieu's designated successor as First Minister to Queen Anne of Austria and the young Louis XIV

Cardinal Mazarin in 1657
 painted by Pieter van Mol
and subsequently engraved by Robert Nanteuil


Robert Nanteuil

Pieter van Mol

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Chanel Koehl - photographer

Click here to visit the web site of Chanel Koehl.

The fortress of Chinon

Chanel Koehl has recently completed a large portfolio of photos of the cité idéale, actually the town of his youth.

Now living in Chinon, he brings visual virtuosity to stunning images of his his place of birth.

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Earthquake in Richelieu

4.2 on the Richter Scale, the earthquake lasted three seconds and its epicentre was close to Rilly, Parçay and Chezelles, all a few kilometres from the location of the Ideal City of the cardinal duke.

Un séisme d'une magnitude 4,2 a été détecté à 20 km au sud est de Chinon (Indre-et-Loire), selon le Bureau central sismologique français (BCSF), à 12 h 36. 

Moins d'une semaine après le séisme d'une magnitude 5,2 détecté en Charente, jeudi 28 avril, la terre a de nouveau tremblé, mais cette-fois-ci en Indre-et-Loire.

A 12 h 36, exactement, un tremblement de terre d'une magnitude 4,2 a été enregistré à vingt kilomètres au sud-est de Chinon (Indre-et-Loire), selon le Bureau central sismologique français (BCSF), à mi-chemin entre les communes de Chezelles, Rilly-sur-Vienne et Parçay-sur-Vienne.

Let's hope the tectonic plates below are more relaxed after this little adjustment.

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Coming up.....

The new Music Kiosk, with a twist.

This new band stand is shortly to be insalled in the place Louis XIII, behind the market hall. Made by the town's Frères Merlot, the new kiosk design has a certain clockwise rotational twist that enlivens the zinc-roofed wooden structure.  

It will finally be located in the centre of the northwest quadrant of the renovated garden at the centre of this square, which originally was the location of a nineteenth-century cattle market for the town's trade in white veal to be sent to the Paris market.

the kiosk is opened by Mayor Novelli

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The Brasserie on the place du Marché

the Brasserie Richelieu next to la halle

This fine building dating from the 1830s is occupied by the Brasserie Richelieu. As one can see on the banner on the façade, it has a new owner. We all hope that this change of proprietors can be a 'new dawn' as the other Richelieu cafés and restaurants seem to be in rather a state of flux.  

The Fossé Saint Ange is a shadow of it former self, now open only occasionally; a new pizza restaurant located in the former mercerie on the market square is now established and very busy; the former Café des Sports has been comprehensively remodelled and now is a fine small bistro called Le Chinon; the former pizza restaurant that was located in the Porte de Châtellerault has changed hands and owners (?), and is to be a bar; the much missed Salon de Thé has disappeared down the Grande Rue leaving its former grand presence in the place du Marché sad and empty; the Restaurant Fabio located at the back of la Halle has closed when its proprietor finally retired....

Good luck to all the new enterprises and adieu to our old friends.

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Villandry and Alan Halliday -

A reception was held yesterday at the Château de Villandry where the paintings of Alan Halliday we exhibited. The subjects were mainly inspired by the people, gardens and architecture of Touraine. Villandry lies about 15 miles from the cité idéale of Richelieu. 

Asserted by some as 'the most beautiful garden in the world'!

CLICK HERE

for more on Alan Halliday and Camburn Fine Art

The Abbé Henri took a stroll afterwards in the famous garden and took these snaps from the gravel terrace walk.

He was struck by the distant garden pavilion

but in some ways his favourite part was the empty 'minerale' parterre below...

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Alan Halliday's exhibition at Villandry

CLICK BELOW

http://www.camburnfineart.com/index.cfm?page=Collection&cat=7628

CLICK BELOW FOR INFORMATION ABOUT ALAN HALLIDAY

http://www.camburnfineart.com/index.cfm?page=Biography&cat=6197&artist=Alan%20Halliday

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Events for 2016

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Another old postcard

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Myriam soldiers on....

There seem to be signs of life at the Fossé Saint Ange.  Everybody was upset when stormy weather set in domestically; everyone regretting the anticipated loss of a favourite restaurant which always seemed to demonstrate the best qualities of the ville idéale to its cultural visitors.

(...although it was sometimes hard to get a booking...)

Myriam needs our support and patronage, even if these new open days are only 

'the last days of pompeii'!

photos here

Myriam tucks in...

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the place du Marché Richelieu in February 2016

a view looking north-east

One of the nice things about gridded 17th century neo-classical towns is that they are often actually perceived in the diagonal. Then the forms suddenly are seen in diagonal perspective and orthogonally-aligned buildings fill unexpected vistas; in this case, one of  the rear pavilions of the halle fits between the standardised slate roofs of the other pavilions and an hôtel particulier. 

One of the characteristics of 17th century French buildings is that each rectangular block of the building's plan has its own 'pyramidal' capping roof - they were not generally linked together until a later 18th century became more exuberant and adventurous in their roof-scape design and engineering.

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