Tag / southern france

by shannonchance

Quintessential Carcassonne

There’s so much I still haven’t shown you–like photos from our June trip to Carcassonne, France.  This town was restored to it’s medieval glory by the very famous architect, Viollet-le-Duc in the mid 1800s.  His work was going on just before the American Civil War.

The place is in tip-top condition.  It reflects Viollet-le-Duc’s best guess as to the walled city’s use and detailing many moons before.  He did quite a bit of forensic analysis in this project!  According to Wikipedia:

Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century, though the Romans had fortified the settlement earlier. The fortress, which was thoroughly restored in 1853 by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997.

A visit to Carcassone in 2013.
A great walled town
Crossing the moat…
Entering the town…
…through a thick wall.
With it’s slender streets…
…and small plazas.
A stunning Gothic church…
…with lacy stained glass windows…
…a beautiful old pipe organ…
…and ample ambiance.
Its exterior laced with gargoyles.
An interesting caryatide.
A plan of the town.
A space between the exterior walls.
Down the hill and across the river… sits the new portion of Carcassone…
…canopies provide hints leading you in the direction of the new town…
…with its gridded street organization.
…and newer plazas…
…full of festivity…
While back in the old town…
…you can enter the most fortified area…
…to see the story of…
….how architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc…
…renovated the city in the mid 1800s.
Here’s the small inner courtyard…
…as viewed by Dave.
Info about the entrance….
…wtih drawings to show how…
…the gate operated.
This explains the wooden overhangs….
…shown here in drawing.
They were used to protect…
…soliders fighting along the walls.
A panorama of the large courtyard.
Art in the museum of stonework.
A sundial.
A courtyard of Carcassone….
…and one of it’s best known delicacies, for sale by the jar.
The town is especially beautiful…
…at night.
It is dramatically lit…
…though the sun stays up late in the summer.
by shannonchance

Arriving in Nimes

Nimes is a beautiful town in southern France that is chock full of Roman artifacts. It’s where I met the Hampton University architecture students, mid-way through their study abroad program in France. I typically organize one of these trips each summer. This year, Prof. Mason Andrews had the whole cohort of third-year architecture students on the trip to France–some years we offer two different trips.

The new plaza outside Nimes’ train station
The organizers of the 2013 Hampton University architecture trip to France: Mason Andrews, Ray Gindroz, and Dave Chance.
A church in Nimes.
The Roman arena in Nimes.
An arch at the Place Marche.
The Masion Caree… freshly renovated.
Dave and his cafe gourmand.
A modern housing complex outside the historic center.