3452 FRANCE (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) - Les Baux-de-Provence

3452 View of Les Baux-de-Provence and its castle from the northwest.

Les Baux-de-Provence is a commune in Southern France, which has a spectacular position in the Alpilles mountains, set atop a rocky outcrop that is crowned with a ruined castle overlooking the plains to the south. Although already inhabited in the Bronze Age, it didn't really start growing until the medieval period, when the area became the stronghold of a feudal domain covering 79 towns and villages. The fortress was built from the 11th to the 13th century. The princes of Baux controlled Provence for many years and they gained a formidable reputation.

2221, 3388, 3411, 3428, 3443 FRANCE (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) - Chartreuse Mountains

2221 Chartreuse Mountains (1)

Located in southeastern France, the Chartreuse Mountains rises between Grenoble (south), Chambéry (north), Voiron and Saint-Laurent-du-Pont (west) and Grésivaudan Valley. It is the southernmost range in the Jura Mountains and belongs to the French Prealps. The monastic Carthusian Order takes its name from these mountains, where its first hermitage, Grande Chartreuse, was founded in 1084.

3428 The desert road in Chartreuse

Also derived from the mountain range's name is that of the alcoholic cordial Chartreuse produced by the monks since the 1740s, and of the chartreuse colour, named after the drink. The east flank falls abruptly almost 2,000m to the Isère valley, while to the west, the high ground falls away towards the Rhône valley. It is separated from the Vercors upland area to the south also by the Isère river, which swings round to the west at Grenoble on its way towards the Rhône.

3388 Chartreuse Mountains (2)

Above the meadows in the valleys, wooded ridges rise up steeply towards steep limestone cliffs. Above these, may be found a hidden world of high altitude plateaus and valleys, vegetated with grassland and dwarf forest. The highest summit in the Chartreuse Mountains is Chamechaude (2,082 m), the third most prominent mountain (1,769m) in metropolitan France. Other important summits include Dent de Crolles (2,062m), Grand Som (2026m) and Mont Granier (1,933m).

3443 Chartreuse Mountains (4)

These are limestone mountains with rather large precipices. Mont Granier is known because in the year 1248, a mass of limestone resting on marls slid into the valley, causing a massive landslide that destroyed many villages and caused over a thousand casualties. This event created the sheer 700 m north face of the mountain.

3411 Chartreuse Mountains (3)

3399 FRANCE (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) - The Bread of the Earth

This postcard depict the cover of the book The Bread of the Earth - The Mountain People Tell, by Anne-Marie Prodon, published by Cabédita Publishing House on December 22, 1998. In 25 chapters, 35 peasants and mountain people recount their lives in the first half of the 20th century, in their villages of the Franco-Swiss Jura. Men and women of the earth, attached to their living environment and their heritage, they conducted the same struggle to find the basic necessities for their existence in this arid county subject to the strong winds from the north. Through both funny and tragic anecdotes, they bear witness to a harsh and healthy life that made them robust, tenacious, determined and ingenious to face everyday realities.

3340, 3355, 3381 FRANCE (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) - Uriage-les-Bains

3355

Posted on 08.01.2020, 14.01.2020, 22.01.2020
Located at 8 km from Grenoble, at the foot of the Belledonne massif, beneath the ski resort of Chamrousse, Uriage-les-Bains is a spa town attached to the communes of Saint-Martin-d'Uriage and Vaulnaveys-le-Haut. It was established during the Roman Empire. The Romans built baths to enjoy the anti-rheumatic properties of the springwater.

3381

Uriage thermal water contains sulphide and salt, and has a molecular concentration similar to that of human blood serum, which is unique in the world and allowed to be administered directly in intra-muscular injections. There are various curing techniques including showers, baths, hydromassages, applications of mud, filiform shower and aerosols.

3340 Uriage-les-Bains - The park dominates by the Château d'Uriage

The town is dominated by the Château d'Uriage, built in the 15th and 16th centuries, but it is likely that there are elements dating from the time of its construction by the Germans in the 13th century. The castle is made up of three massive main buildings, erected around a square courtyard, flanked by the corners of the round towers. The largest and tallest serving as a dungeon. In the late 1980s, it was transformed into a co-ownership of 50 flats, making it a private property.

3364-3371 FRANCE (Île-de-France) - Musée de la Poupée in Paris

3364 Two Bleuette dolls (left - 1920s, right - 1930)

The Musée de la Poupée was a private doll museum located in Paris, in a quiet alley in the very crowded Marais district, between the Pompidou Center and the Museum of Jewish Art and History, established in 1994 and closed in September 2017. It contained a permanent collection of more than 500 French dolls (toys, automatons, miniature mannequins, divination dolls and witchcraft figurines), an army of strange beauty that unveils mankind's universal fascination for self representation.

3365 Two Bleuette dolls (left - 1934-1940, right - 1928)

Made out of cloth, rubber, celluloid, wax, bisque, porcelain, plastic and even human hair, their bodies and their shapes defined an ideal of feminity that fluctuated through the canon of beauty of their era. Sometimes showcased in dioramas that mimic hausmanian cabinets, tea parties or kitchy seashores, the dolls reenact the illusion of life in the most bizarre of ways, stuck in timeless girly stereotypes. One room focused on doll-making and the materials used in dolls. The museum also presented temporary exhibits and lectures.

3366 A Bleuette doll (1941-1946)

Under the Second Empire, the doll has first represented the lady morphology. These rich and refined lady-dolls are particularly remarquable for their trousseau and accessories reflecting the fashion of their time. First made of wood and composition, they had a bisque (mat porcelain) head and a leather or wood body. In 1878 a new type of dolls appeared at the universal exhibition of Paris: the bisque headed "bebe" that represented from then on the child from 3 to 12 years old.

3367 Three Bleuette dolls (1946)

The "bebe's" birth is related to the incredible international development of French doll and toy industry. In 1899 the most important French doll makers associated through the SFBJ - Société Française de fabrication de bébés et jouets - in order to fight against the foreign competition and mainly the German one. The SFBJ production is outstanding for the exceptional series of "character bebes" with expressive faces and child or even baby bodies.

3368 Baby doll (1930s)

During the roaring twenties, new materials have been used in the doll industry : celluloïd, composition, papier-mâché, cloth, felt... Simoultaneously a new morphological type of doll raised on the market : the soft body baby representing the new born with a bald big head with side glancing eyes looking very realistic. Chidren's magazines also promoted dolls given as a gift such as Bleuette of La Semaine de Suzette which is probably the most famous with her rich trousseau that could be bought already made or could be sewn by little girls from the patterns published in the magazine.

3369 A Bleuette doll

During the second part of the 20th century, new plastic materials appeared in the doll industry and all the other ones were abandoned. On the other hand, the variety of the dolls of that era is amazing : classic dolls, baby dolls, brand new fashion dolls, soft body babies, caricature or funny dolls. The main firms still using celluloïd or rhodoïd at that time are Raynal, Petitcollin, Nobel, Convert, Urika, Marechal. The ones imposing with new plastic materials are Bella, Gégé, Clodrey and later Corolle. In 1951 the lady magazine Modes & Travaux sold its own dolls for which patterns were published monthly in order to dress them.

3370 A Bleuette doll (1927-1933)

Created by two passionate collectors, Guido and Samy Odin, father and son, the establishment has never benefited from any state subsidy or private aid, and closed its doors due to financial difficulties. After the closure of the museum, Samy Odin found new operating solutions in the same field. He continued to activated as specialist in ancient dolls, antiquarian dealer, author and speaker, as well as organizer of occasional exhibitions and events related to his specialties, under a new structure named Cherubim, which popularize the culture in the various representations of childhood, from yesterday to today.

3371 A Bleuette doll (1930)

From the installation of exhibitions all over the world to the purchase and sale of dolls and any other collectible object with a childlike image, from the organization of conferences, seminars and workshops to the proposal of trips and stays study for an informed public. But also the expertise of dolls, toys, old papers and specialized books, the publishing of reference books and articles, the writing of sales catalogs, up to coaching for collectors.

3351 FRANCE (Normandy) - Cherbourg-Octeville

Cherbourg-Octeville - Basilica of Sainte-Trinité,
Atlantic Hotel, Fort du Roule, Cité de la Mer.

Situated at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula, Cherbourg-Octeville was officially formed when the commune of Cherbourg absorbed Octeville in 2000. In 2016 it was merged into the new commune of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. The city has been a strategic position over the centuries, disputed between the English and French. Cited as one of the "keys to the kingdom" by Vauban, it became a first-rate military port under the leadership of Louis XVI and Napoleon. The city was the primary goal of US troops during the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

3311, 3323, 3332 FRANCE (Occitania) - Entombment of Christ in Saint-Pierre de Carennac church

3332 Entombment of Christ in Saint-Pierre de Carennac church

Posted on 28.12.2019, 01.01.2019, 04.01.2020

Carennac, one of the most beautiful villages of France, lies in the fertile valley of the Dordogne River, nestled under the barren, parched plateau locally named 'le Causse', and belongs to the historical region of Quercy. Among its most remarkable landmarks is a medieval Clunisian priory, combining 11th-century church of Saint Pierre, and cloister, which features a 15th-century mise au tombeau (entombment of Christ).

3323 Entombment of Christ in Saint-Pierre de Carennac church (detail) (2)

It is impressive by the painful expression of the characters, at the center of which is the crying Virgin Mary, supported by Mary of Clopas, Mary Salomé and Mary Magdalene. Christ, whose face is full of sweetness, is stretched out on a stone table. The shroud is supported by Joseph of Arimathea, on the right, and Nicodemus, on the left, the two disciples who detached the body of Christ from the Cross and buried it.

3311 Entombment of Christ in
Saint-Pierre de Carennac church (detail) (2)

2040, 2041, 2084, 2214, 2664, 2742, 2826, 3287 FRANCE (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) - Grenoble

2040 The map of Isère department and The Bastille in Grenoble

Posted on 16.11.2015, 29.11.2015, 14.01.2016, 23.07.2016, 06.09.2016, 15.10.2016, 10.12.2019
Located at the foot of the French Alps, where the river Drac joins the Isère, Grenoble is the capital city of the Isère department. The proximity of the mountains, as well as its size, has led to the city being known as the "Capital of the Alps". Its history goes back more than 2,000 years, at a time when it was a small Gallic village. While it gained in stature by becoming the capital of the Dauphiné in the 11th century, it remained for most of its history a modest parliamentary and garrison city on the borders of the Kingdom of France.

2742 Aerial view of Grenoble

The Bastille, an ancient series of fortifications at the south end of the Chartreuse mountain range, overlooking the city of Grenoble, was begun in the Middle Ages, but later years saw extensive additions, including a semi-underground defense network, credited as the most extensive example of early 18th-century fortifications in France, and then held an important strategic point on the Alpine frontier with the Kingdom of Savoy. A small garrison was maintained in the fort until 1940.

2826 The Palace of the Parliament of Dauphiné

 

The Palace of the Parliament of Dauphiné was constructed in Place Saint André around 1500 and extended in 1539. It was the location of the Parlement of Dauphiné until the French Revolution. It then became a courthouse until 2002. The left wing of the palace was extended in 1897. The front of the former seat of the nearby Dauphiné Parlement combines elements from a gothic chapel and a Renaissance façade. The building now belongs to the Isère Council (Conseil Général de l'Isère).

2041 Grenoble - The Isère's quai, the Bubbles,
the Marius Gontard Bridge, and Vercors Massif.

The Marius Gontard Bridge is historically the second Isère crossing site in Grenoble. The first stone bridge was built between 1621 and 1671. After much destruction and reconstruction, it was rebuilt in stone in 1839 and called the bridge of the Hospital. It carries since 1924 the same name as the street that continues, that of a General Counsel of Grenoble (1856-1923). With a total length of 73m, it has three spans, the central span, the longest, with a range of 27m.

2084 Grenoble - The Isère's quai on wintertime, and the Bubbles.

The first cable transport system was installed on the Bastille in 1875. Since 1934, the Bastille has been the destination of the Grenoble-Bastille Cable Car, known to locals as Les Bulles (the bubbles). It is one of the oldest urban cable cars in the world and runs all year round. The route takes the cars across the Isère and over the roofs of the old Saint Laurent quarter before passing over a bastion of the curtain wall of the fort and then over the Rabot and various successive fortifications before arriving at the upper station.

2214 Grésivaudan Valley - Funiculaire de Saint-Hilaire du Touvet,
villages with Belledone in background, Dent de Crolles, and the Bubbles.

Except for a few dozen houses on the slopes of the Bastille hill, Grenoble is exclusively built on the alluvial plain of the Isère and Drac rivers at an altitude of 214 metres. As a result, the city itself is extremely flat. Mountain sports are an important tourist attraction in summer and winter. Twenty large and small ski resorts surround the city, the nearest being Le Sappey-en-Chartreuse, which is about 15 minutes' drive away. Historically, both Grenoble and the surrounding areas were sites of heavy industry and mining.

2664 Grenoble

 

In 1987, Grenoble became the second French city to reintroduce trams, the first being the Nantes tramway. The current network is 35-kilometre long, and comprises five lines: lines A, B, C, D and E. Trams were first introduced to Grenoble in 1894, and this first generation tram system survived until 1952. The city is served by a total of 103 trams: the older 53, numbered from 2001 to 2053, are Alsthom TFS, whilst the newer 50, numbered from 6001 to 6050, are Alstom Citadis trams.

3287 Grenoble