War and Remembrance: Oradour-sur-Glane

People often ask us why we moved to France. And for me the answer is, "Because of the history."  Here, no matter where you go, the past is always present. Every village has both a church from the Middle Ages and a monument to les enfants lost in World War I. In many areas the historic record stretches further back to include Roman ruins or even prehistoric cave dwellings that are more than 20,000 years old.

And of course the evidence of World War II is inescapable. From small roadside markers to immense submarine bases, the Second World War is tangible; here, you can literally reach out and touch it. And nowhere is the memory of the war more palpable, more graphic or more horrifying than in the small french town of Oradour-sur-Glane. 

Fortified Mills: The Final Four

To wrap up this series on fortified mills, I’d like to show you four more examples, each of which is architecturally unique or historically significant in its own way. If you have a favorite, I’d love to hear from you.

Fortified Mills, Part 2: In which we meet a Count

The watermill of La Salle is one of the least well-known, yet most impressive, of the fortified mills in the Entre-Deux-Mers region. But as spectacular as it is architecturally, La Salle holds a special place in my heart because of what happened when Bruce and I stumbled on it last summer.

In early August we were trying to track down some of the fortified mills that I had read about. Just outside of Cleyrac, as Bruce turned off the road onto a small dirt path we both saw the sign saying “Privé”. He, being a law-abiding citizen and former policeman, was all for turning around, but I nagged and hectored him into continuing “just a little bit further.” In this way we argued our way farther and farther from the main road; once we passed through an enormous stone gate it was clear, even to me, that we were on private property. As there was absolutely no place to turn around, we had no choice but to continue.

It's not just the wine that's fortified...

Happy 2014 to all of you! 

We're back in Bordeaux after visiting the States for a few weeks and I’m ready to start the second year of archi-trouve. I’ve decided to try a couple of things differently this year. To make archi-trouve more useful for those who might want to visit some of these sites I've decided to include a map with each blog post. (I'll do that just as soon as I figure out how.)  

Also, I’m hoping to write shorter posts and will try to get something out every week. And finally, over the next few weeks I’ll put together a glossary so that if there’s an unfamiliar architectural term in the text you can look it up right on the site. In the meantime, I'll define unusual words at the bottom of each post. And, as always, I'd love to hear from you. Questions? Comments? It's all welcome. 

Now, with the housekeeping out of the way, let’s get to this week’s subject: fortified mills!

Rock of (Middle) Ages...

In Ethiopia there are eleven monolithic churches that I hope to see someday. Carved right out of the earth in the 13^th century, they’re unique in the world. To create these spectacular structures the builders first removed enough rock to expose an enormous solid cube. Then the interior of that block was carved away to create a sanctuary that was truly monolithic or ‘one rock,’ like those in the images above.

But if you know Bruce you can imagine his thoughts on visiting a country known primarily for Haile Selassie and famine. Since my chances of getting to Ethiopia are pretty slim, it's lucky for me that the two largest monolithic churches in Europe are located within 60 miles of Bordeaux.

When Buildings Could Talk

The best thing about writing this blog is that I learn something new with every post. That was exactly what happened last week when I wrote about the colombage buildings in Alsace. After I had finished most of the text I found a video to finish the post with. In that video, Frederick, a young Alsatian, talked about restoring a colombage barn and house, and because it was in French I included a brief translation of his main points. What I didn’t tell you is that toward the end Frederick mentioned that there were symbols hidden in the timber framing of his house. He claimed that the original owner of the house was extremely  interested in having a large family, and that this message could be 'read' in the colombage.

Colombage Redux

Earlier this year I wrote about the colombage buildings in northern France, particularly the beautiful houses in Rouen. (If you want to read that post please click on the word 'colombage' in the labels list at the right.) But we just returned from a trip to Alsace in eastern France, an area that is widely thought to have the largest number of preserved wood-framed structures from the 15th to 17th centuries.