Architectural, Cultural sights in France
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Vieille Bourse
The Vieille Bourse is a Flemish Renaissance extravaganza ornately decorated with caryatids and cornucopia. Built in 1653, it consists of 24 separate houses set around a richly ornamented interior courtyard that hosts a used-book market (1pm-7pm Tue-Sun); old postcards, comic books and CDs are also on sale. In the warm months locals often gather here to play échecs (chess).
reviewed
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La Chambre de Vincent
Van Gogh's little 'yellow house' on place Lamartine, which he painted in 1888, was wiped out during WWII. But to get a sense of stepping into his bedroom - which he sketched and painted several times (or least the sense of stepping into its brightly coloured canvas likeness, skewed perspective and all), La Chambre de Vincent re-creates a life-size approximation. Opening hours can be erratic.
reviewed
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Atelier Paul Cézanne
Cézanne’s last studio, Atelier Paul Cézanne, 1.5km north of the tourist office on a hilltop, is a must for any Cézanne fan. It’s painstakingly preserved as it was at the time of his death, strewn with his tools and still-life models; his admirers claim this is where Cézanne is most present. Take bus 1 or 20 to the Atelier Cézanne stop, or walk (20 minutes) from the centre.
reviewed
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Museon Arlaten
Museon Arlaten was founded by Nobel Prize-winning poet and dedicated Provençal preservationist Frédéric Mistral. Occupying a 16th-century townhouse, it has displays of traditional Provençal furniture, crafts, costumes, ceramics, wigs, and a model of the mythical people-eating amphibious monster, the Tarasque. Last entry is one hour prior to closing.
reviewed
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Île Feydeau
Île Feydeau , the quarter south of the Gare Centrale, ceased to be an island after WWII when the channels of the Loire that once surrounded it were filled in following the riverbeds drying up. Today, you can still see where ships docked at the doors of the area's 18th-century mansions - some of which are adorned with stone carvings of the heads of African slaves.
reviewed
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Maison de Balzac
This pretty, three-storey spa house in Passy, about 800m southwest of the Jardins du Trocadéro, is where the realist novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) lived and worked from 1840 to 1847, editing the entire Comédie Humaine and writing various books. There’s lots of memorabilia, letters, prints and portraits and is probably for die-hard Balzac fans only.
reviewed
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Petit Château
The Château de Chantilly consists of two attached buildings, which are entered through the same vestibule. The Petit Château was built around 1560 for Anne de Montmorency (1492-1567), who served six French kings as connétable (high constable), diplomat and warrior and died fighting Protestants in the Counter-Reformation.
reviewed
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La Maison des Papillons
Around 4500 butterflies collected by Dany Lartigue, son of Riviera photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894-1986), are pinned to the walls in La Maison des Papillons. Find the House of Butterflies in the former home of Madeleine 'Bibi' Messager, the first wife of Jacques Lartigue (he had three) who remained in St-Tropez after the couple split.
reviewed
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Château La Moutte
The Château La Moutte's unmarked entrance is on chemin de la Moutte. In summer musical concerts are held. The library here holds Émile Olivier's 17-volume L'Empire Libéral. Olivier served as first minister to Napoleon III until his exile in 1870. This used to be his home on Cap des Salins.
reviewed
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Jules Verne House
The father of science fiction writing spent 18 years living in Amiens - including 15 years as town councillor - and his whimsical, turreted home is now a museum. The 19th-century furnished rooms have been left just as they were when Phileas Fogg and Captain Nemo were first captivating the literary world.
reviewed
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Maison d'Adam
Behind the Cathédrale St-Maurice on place Ste-Croix is the Maison d'Adam (c 1500), a half-timbered house on whose ornate façade wooden sculptures run riot. The Tree of Life, on the corner, used to be flanked by Adam and Eve (another lovey-dovey couple can be seen nearby).
reviewed
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Salle de Bal
The Salle de Bal, a 30m-long ballroom dating from the mid-16th century that was also used for receptions and banquets, is renowned for its mythological frescoes, marquetry floor and Italian-inspired coffered ceiling. Large windows afford views of the Cour Ovale and the gardens.
reviewed
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Grand Château
Attached to the Château de Chantilly is the Renaissance-style Grand Château, which was rebuilt 100 years after the Revolution by the Duke of Aumale, son of King Louis-Philippe. It served as a French military headquarters during WWI.
reviewed
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Hôtel de Vogüé
Behind Église Notre Dame, the 17th century Hôtel de Vogüé is renowned for the ornate carvings around its exquisitely proportioned Renaissance courtyard. It’s worth walking through the pink stone archway for a peek.
reviewed
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Rue de la Boucherie
Just off place St-Aurélien, the pedestrianised rue de la Boucherie - so named because of the butcher's shops that lined the street in the Middle Ages - contains many of the city's most attractive medieval half-timbered houses.
reviewed
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Villa Isola Bella
Between 1920 and 1921 novelist Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) stayed in the Villa Isola Bella, in the upmarket neighbourhood of Garavan, to attempt to ease her worsening tuberculosis. A plaque on the villa wall marks her stay.
reviewed
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Espace Van Gogh
Temporary art exhibitions regularly take place at Espace Van Gogh, housed in the former hospital where Van Gogh had his ear stitched and was later locked up (not to be confused with the asylum Monastère St-Paul de Mausole).
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Maison Courtin
One of Concarneau's last functioning canneries, Maison Courtin, conducts tours including a film of the cannery in peak production and free sampling. Contact the cannery or the tourist office for tour times.
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Musée des Beaux-Arts
Along the coast, Monaco's royal family summered at 18th-century Palais Carnolès, today the Musée des Beaux-Arts, surrounded by a fabulous lemon and orange grove studded with sculptures.
reviewed
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Maison Huot
North of the Vieille Ville, art-nouveau town houses include Maison Weissenburger , built in 1904, and Maison Huot , constructed a year earlier.
reviewed
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Maison Weissenburger
North of the Vieille Ville, art-nouveau town houses include Maison Weissenburger , built in 1904, and Maison Huot , constructed a year earlier.
reviewed
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Maison Natale de Toulouse-Lautrec
A short stroll away from the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec is the privately owned Maison Natale de Toulouse-Lautrec where the artist Toulouse-Lautrec was born.
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Salles des Mariages
In 1957 Jean Cocteau decorated Menton's Salles des Mariages, inside the town hall, with scenes of Orpheus' and Eurydice's wedding, galloping horses and starry local lovers.
reviewed
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Maison Paternelle de Ste-Bernadette
The Maison Paternelle de Ste-Bernadette is the house that the town of Lourdes bought for the Soubirous family after Bernadette saw the apparitions.
reviewed
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Collection Lambert
Avignon's contemporary art museum, Collection Lambert, showcases photography, video, and minimalist, conceptual and land art from the 1960s and '70s.
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