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All material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-08 - The contents may not be reproduced without permission - Adrian Fletcher can be contacted at afletch at paradoxplace dot com
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CIAO ADRIANO
Le Mans (Capital of Maine)
September 2007
THE ROUTE TO DATE WITH MAPS OF FRANCE AND OF ITS MEDIEVAL PILGRIMAGE ROADS
Links to: Cathedral St-Julien, Cistercian Abbey of L'Épau, Back to Ciao Adriano Plantagenet Places
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As Miss P (that's the generic name for the Dom's Peugeot station wagons) and I drove into the centre of Le Mans in mid September 2007, we agreed that it showed all the signs of having risen in a very ordinary way out of the ashes of bad war damage. Surprise then to find that the guide book says that the city escaped World War damage, and so the town centre is all their own work. MInd you, guide books are not always right are they ........
Le Mans calls itself the "Cité Plantagenêt". Plantagenet founder Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and husband of Henry I's daughter Matilda (that was a family name shared with her mum and grandmum - wife of William the Conqueror), was born in what is today the Hotel de Ville. His tomb is said to be in the cathedral, though there is no signage there to identify it and no-one seemed to know where it was. We discovered nothing else Plantagenet in our day of wandering the old town. Of course it should really call itself the City of the Car, and one imagines that this connection (which we did not pursue) attracts far more visitors that the old town ever will.
Old Le Mans is on a high, slabby and uninteresting retaining-walled (the biggest retaining wall in the blah blah) hill beside the Sarthe river. Apparently it was partially deserted and falling down until more recently, when a lot of work was put into renovations (but not into the replacement of rough cobble surfaces which are a pain to walk on or, maybe relatedly, repopulation). There are several attractive half timbered buildings, but no atmosphere and very few people - especially as you climb further up the hill to the Cathedral St-Julien which sits in a large area completely devoid of cafés, shops and people.
But the Cathedral, Romanesque in the West, Gothic in the east (below), is still worth a visit ...... most sensibly on a half day excursion from somewhere else.
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The chapel on the far right of the photo, at the extreme east end of the cathedral, is called the Lady or Chevet Chapel. The descriptors "chevet" and "apse" are both used in relation to "east ends" in French churches. The chapel contains some beautiful stained glass, and on its ceiling are the special reason for visiting the Cathedral - frescos painted in the mid-1300s portraying 47 delicately beautiful "Musician Angels" - which have avoided the notice of guide book writers.
More Photos from the Cathedral St-Julien
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More Photos of the Old Town will appear, meantime here's some plump moules
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Plump Moules - the best we had in France 07 - working lunch at Restaurant Le Plongeoir
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Go to the Page LIst for a full listing of pages and their status
All material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-08 - The contents may not be reproduced without permission - Adrian Fletcher can be contacted at afletch at paradoxplace dot com
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