Places Well Worth A Visit In Limousin

Limoges

Limoges is the capital of the Limousin region. It is a city with a fascinating history and contains ancient buildings in quaint old streets with museums, gardens and galleries. Limoges was founded in 16BC by the Roman Emperor Augustus. It was first named Augustoritum after him. Still today, archaeologists continue to unearth roman villas and other remains. Limoges is famous for its 'arts du feu', porcelain and enamels.

Both these involve kilns and firing. Enamel making started in the twelfth century and spread throughout Europe along the pilgrim ways (the route of Santiago de Compostela crosses the region). The quality of the clay and the prestige of Limoges porcelain prompted an American, David Haviland, to set up a china works there in 1842. You can visit the Haviland museum and the Pavilion de la Porcelaine.

   Haviland Museum Porcelaine

  Pavillion de la Porcelaine

The Parc du Château de Montméry, was designed by one of David Haviland's sons, and contains many interesting species of trees and shrubs. Limoges has more parks and green areas per capita than any other French provincial city.

Parc du Chateau de Montmery

The butchers' Quarter in Limoges contains many fine old half-timbered buildings. The Maison Traditionnelle de la Boucherie (rue de la Boucherie) is a museum dedicated to the prestige of the butchers of Limoges who have held a powerful position here since the 1200s.

Maison Traditionennelle de la Boucherie            

In 1471 , the Guild of butchers, built their own chapel (la Chapelle St Aurélien) which is now open to visitors. The chapel contains an unusual statue of the Virgin and Child in which the Child is holding a kidney! The Place de Bancs was used for the slaughter of animals, on benches in full view of everybody, to show that the beasts were sound.

   La Chappelle St Aurelien

Nearby is the covered market, Les Halles where one can venture into the alleyways full of bustling people and enjoy the tempting sights and smells of French food at its best. Also in the area is one of the best bookshops you will find anywhere. Page et Plume.

   Les Halles              Les Halles

Crowded with people browsing and buying, jazz music playing quietly in the background. Weave your way through the bookshelves, stepping over piles of books stacked on the floor when there is not enough room on the shelves. If you are looking for something in particular ask one of the many helpful assistants, or just enjoy the experience! Until 1940 there were no less than 49 breweries in Limoges. Today, real ale is still brewed here in the Brasserie St Martial, Place Denis-Dussoubs. Using Kentish hops, this micro-brewery is also a bar and produces seven varieties of beer on site.

   Place Denis-Dussoubs

The ancient Cathedral Quarter of Limoges rises up above the banks of the River Vienne. The whole area is dominated by the gothic cathedral of St Etienne, in spite of it having lost its spire when it was struck by lightening in the 16th century. It is surrounded by the gardens of the Bishop's palace which contains vast subterranean passages.

Inside the Bishop's palace is the Musée de l'Evêché which displays fine enamels dating back to the 12th century. Additionally, on view here are Egyptology, a lapidary collection and paintings by August Renoir, who was born in Limoges in 1841. This museum hosts excellent exhibitions.

   Bontanique Musee de l'Eveche

Limoges Cathedral

The Cathedral of St-Etienne was begun in 1273 and continued in various later periods but it was not finally completed until the second half of the 19th C. In the north transept is the 'Portail de St-Jean', with carved doors (portraying legends of St Martial and St Stephen) dating from the first half of the 16th C. The tower is 62 m/205ft high, the three lower stories being Romanesque and the four upper ones Gothic. Notable features of the interior are the monuments of three church dignitaries of the 14th and 16th centuries round the choir, the richly decorated rood screen in Italian Renaissance style and some old stained glass.

The Cathedral lost its spire when it was struck by lightning in the16th century. It is surrounded by the gardens of the Bishop's Palace, which has vast subterranean passages.

The Arts of Fire - Enamel and Porcelain

   Enamel

Limoges is famous for both its enamel and porcelain.

Limoges is best known for its porcelain. In 1768 kaolin - an essential component in the manufacture of porcelain, was discovered at nearby St-Yreix. There was already a china factory in Limoges, Quartermaster Turgot had the vision and the rest followed on. A production site was created in the city in 1771, other factories sprang up in the following decades. The reputation of Limoges porcelain was set during the 19th century owing to the quality of its materials plus its artistic and creative merit. At international exhibitions in London, Paris, Brussels, Milan and Philadelphia prestigious prizes were awarded to Limoges factories.

  Porcelain

Since the middle ages enamellers have worked in the area and their 'champleve' (raised field) enamels on copper spread throughout Europe. The abbey Saint-Martial was an important stop in the pilgrimage routes of Saint-Jacques-de-Compostella and a heavy demand grew for religious souvenirs and relics. This contributed to the development of enamelware. Crosses, plates, bishop's crooks etc., were made in Limousin workshops and spread throughout western Christendom and into Russia. With the Renaissance came a change in tastes. Religious subjects gave way to themes inspired by antiquity. Demand grew and new workshops were founded.

Today the enamelware industry is in decline but workshops still exist creating works of extraordinary sill and merit.

Guided tours to Porcelain Factories

The Haviland collection can be seen at the Pavillon de la Porcelaine. It traces the history of company production and features the splendid dinner services made for royal families and presidents.

The Bernardaud Factory was founded in 1863 and presents visitors with a guided tour of the different stages of porcelain manufacture.

Le Musee National de la Porcelaine Adrien Dubrouche (National Porcelain Museum): one of only two French museums devoted to ceramics.

Visit the enamel workshops: the traditional craft of enamelling was developed in the 12th century. A style particular to Limoges, called Champleve brought it worldwide fame. Many enamellers would be proud to show you their know-how.

Gueret

Gueret developed, from the accumulation of various people, around a monastery founded in 690. Later fortified by Charlemagne, the city was sold to the English king in the XIIc and with the Hundred Years War, it took some time for the French to regain power of the city. The town was awarded a Franchise charter in 1406 by the Comte de la Marche Jacques II de Bourbon, and the Hotel des Monneyroux, now home to the Conseil General, was built. It is an interesting building of the Renaissance period and is in pure Gothic style. From here, a tour of the old quarter is recommended.

Gueret became the capital of the Marche county in 1514 and gained status of the chef-lieu of the Creuse in 1791.
La Place Bonnyaud with its Fontaine des Trois Graces comes to life with the weekly Thursday and Friday markets; every third Sunday of the month between October and June, there is a large antique and bric-a-brac market.

With many visitors and potential house buyers being drawn by the Creuse’s exceptional natural beauty, it is the land of water, the Creuse and the Gartempe meander through the Monts de Gueret with its wolf sanctuary in the forest of Chabrieres and where granite outcrops, archaeology and legend are plenty.

Stepping away from the town centre is the Courtille leisure centre a 20 hectare lake deserves its popularity. With its privileged setting, virtually all sports and leisure activities can be enjoyed and its 3 star campsite make it a perfect holiday destination.

Gueret’s Museum of Art and Archaeology

Founded in 1837, the museum has occupied a former private hotel since 1910 and is set in the middle of the attractive municipal gardens. Built in 1790, the hotel was finally finished in the XIXc and was home to the Senator of the Empire, hence its name Senatorerie.

Les Loups de Chabrieres

Just south of Gueret, is the Chabrieres forest, home to several packs of wolves. Native wolves had always fought man for the same territory and a law passed in 1882 permitted the mass annihilation of the species. Within half a century, canis lupus virtually vanished from the French countryside. The last official killing of a wild wolf was in 1954 in the Isere.

But man’s ongoing fascination with the animal led to the idea of this park. Here you can observe European, Albertan and Mackensian wolf packs in a natural environment which is also a sanctuary for solitary and dependent animals.

A museum reveals the nature of wolves and the many cultural references associated with them: werewolves, Tarzan, Romulus and Remus, Oupouaout, Zeus, Little Red Riding Hood to name a few.Observatoire Planetarium

The observatory, in the centre of the Chabrieres park is an important centre for the French astronomical research.

A slide show introduces you to the major constellations and most significant stars and you can observe of our star, the sun, and its black spots in safety.

Les Monts de Gueret

To the west and south of Gueret lies a chain of hills that with the Puy des Trois Cornes, north of Saint-Vaury constitutes the Monts de Gueret. Renowned for its beauty, the area is also steeped in history – man has been here since prehistoric times and Gallo-Roman remains are also visible.

A chaos of granite blocks emerges from the forest of Chabrieres and their sizes and shapes have inspired a wealth of stories based on the Druid cult of the stone. The Ermit’s stone, the Judgement stone, the Wolf’s stone, the Moving stone and the Treasure stone – all have their story to tell. They give this forest its charm and originality and make it an even more attractive spot for outdoor activities.

La Pierre du Loup

Reminiscent of times when villages lived in fear of wolves, this is the place where they reputedly slaughtered the young cubs.

La Pierre Chabranle

This stones balances precariously on a round back. In Celtic times, the druids knew how to make it talk and according to the movements, judgement was delivered.

Aubusson

Everyone has heard of Aubusson’s exquisite tapestries and weaving, still flourishing today. The Tapestry Museum has permanent and temporary exhibitions tracing their history from the XVc to the present day. Contemporary artists, such as the famous Jean Lurcat have found it an inspiring medium. See also the Musee Dom Robert, the Maison des Vallenets (contemporary tapestries).

Aubusson the town is in itself charming, built along the valley of the Creuse river, with interesting architectural features from the Middle Ages, strange turrets, carved windows and doorways. To soak up the ambiance of the past visit the XVc shingle-roofed Maison du Vieux Tapissier, with weavers’ workshops and demonstrations of tapestry making. Other musts are the ruined fortified chateau and the old bridge, Le Pont de la Terrade, leading to the weavers’ quarter on the opposite bank on the Creuse, the clock tower, theXIIIc church of Sainte-Croix and other old houses from different eras.

Tulle, Capital of the Accordion

Tulle is famous for its accordions and is built on and around seven hills and snakes along the Correze river. As the Correze’s capital too, it house the Prefecture, the Conseil General and the aptly-names Theatre of the Seven Hills.

Attractive old streets wind their way around the old quarters dominated by the XIIc cathedral of Notre-Dame. During the annual

Accordion Festival, Nuits de Nacre, the banks of the Correze become the backdrop to a thrilling array of accordionists, local and foreign, playing alongside the water and on it, from boats and barges.

Set in the ancient Benedictine cloisters of the cathedral is the elegant Musee du Cloitre, with its permanent exhibition of water colours and an amazing collection of accordions dating from 1829. the Department des Armes Anciennes and the Musee Departmental de la

Resistance et de la Deportation includes documentation of the tragedy in Tulle in 1944.

Brive La Gaillarde

The Bas Pays, the southern edge of the lowlands of Correze, gives on to the dry limestone slopes of the Quercy. The rest of the area consists of a large basin formed by the vallys of the Vezere, Correze and Dordogne, with a sprinkling of little hills.

The climate is mild and the land is rich in fruit and walnut trees, vegetable and tobacco fields.

Brive, at the centre of this small area, is a beautiful little town belted by a one-way circular shady boulevard on the site of the old ramparts, the city’s outer fortifications. The inner ramparts, protected the oldest part of the city – now the pedestrain and commercial part of Brive – which encompasses the area from the church to the XIIc Saint-Martin quarter.

Historically, because of the Hundred Years War, Brive was alternately a French and an English town, depending on the various battles and treaties.

The varied, yet harmonoious, architecture includes Renaissance buildings such as the Tour des Echevins, where the door-knocker features the salamander of Francois Ier; XVIIIc Maison Lalande with its 100-year old vine; XIXc buildings such as the Palais de Justice, and the superb ancient College des Doctrinaires (1650-73), now the town hall, is typical of XVIIc architecture in the Brive region. The square is a fine example of the Louis XIII style.

Brive is a lively market town with lots happening all year: weekly markets, a flower market in Place Latreille, one of the oldest squares in the town, an Onion fair on the last Sunday in August, music and festivals in the summer, truffle markets in winter and the yearly Book Fair in the autumn.

Rochechouart

The Viscount Jean de Rochechouart Pontville rebuilt the castle in Renaissance style in the 15th Century. It was sacked by revolutionaries in 1794, and it was later restored and now houses the Musée d'Art Contermporain. (Modern art museum). Two rooms house a collection of frescos: one with coloured hunting scenes, the other with the Twelve Labours of Hercules in monochrome.

Rochechouart was built over a 20 km-wide crater caused by a large meteorite which crashed into the area some 200 million years ago, releasing an energy 14 million times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. Visit the Espace Méréorite.

The church at Rochechouart is the former priory church, consecrated in 1076; only the western doorway, the northern wall and part of the transept and chancel have survived. It has an unusual belfry with a twisted spire - rebuilt in the 18th century.

Coussac-Bonneval

It is one of those small places which promises, nothing special on the map but turns out to be a delightful surprise, largely because of its beautiful moated chateau. To the medieval landed gentry, a good solid drawbridge would have seemed like that ultimate in home security. So to boast not one but two of these desirable entrances must have seriously improved the property owner’s resistance to marauders.

Not that the Bonneval family seemed to have had a problem. Apart from a brief period in the thirteenth century when mysterious outsiders seized their turreted manor house, they have lived peacefully in the village of Coussac-Bonneval for nearly a thousand years.

Twenty-first century visitors can tour the Bonneval family home – now in the hands of the 23rd Marquis – and cross the double drawbridge for themselves. A small one for pedestrians beside a larger version for heavier traffic.

Inside, you will find an unexpected Italianate courtyard, spacious rooms stocked with a sumptuous mix of treasures, a private chapel, and a family archive containing more than 30,000 documents, as well stirring tales of some wonderfully eccentric ancestors.

The story of Claude-Alexandre de Bonneval, better known as ‘The Pacha’ whose brilliant military career began at the age of 10 in the Navy. After his affair with a mistress of Louis XV was made public, Claude fled to Austria and then Turkey where he adopted eastern clothes and earned himself the nickname Pacha for his military exploits. Regarded as a national hero, he died in Constantinople in 1747 and is buried facing the Bosphorous.

The castle is opened to visitors every day from 15th March to 2nd November, from 14.30 to 19.00 (July, August and September) and from 14.30 to 18.00 (March, April, May, June, October and November). Group Visits (20 persons minimum), all around the year by appointment.

Prices of visits: 10€ adults, 6€ students, 5€ children.

Group price: 7€. for 20 persons minimum.

The Untouched Village of Oradour Sur Glane – Since 10th June 1944

On this date, a company of 120 of the 'Der Führer Das Reich Second SS Panzer Division' surrounded the little village of Oradour sur Glane, some 20 kms from Limoges. They assembled all the villagers on the main square, then they separated the men from the women and children, shutting the men up in small groups in various barns. The 400 or so women and children were locked the church. The soldiers were ordered to fire on all the men at once with machine guns. The bodies were then burnt. Inside the church, the women and children were burnt alive. The village was set alight and looted. Only a few villagers managed to escape the massacre which killed 642.

Right after the liberation, the ruined martyr village was listed as a historic monument; a new village was built a few hundred metres away. In 1999, a Centre of Remembrance was inaugurated by President Chirac. In the small museum you can see the victim's names engraved on the walls; showcases display personal items that did not burn - toys, watches, glasses, cigarette cases and jewellery.