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Post by fumobici on Dec 18, 2015 20:27:13 GMT
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_fountain Scroll down to the bottom and there's a list of where the world's Wallace Fountains are. There's one in the US in New Orleans, and I stumbled upon the one in Zurich. I've never even heard of the town in Italy that has one, and Montevideo seems stocked up. This is a wonderful report, the area looks lushly picturesque and you've taken some sumptuous photos of it.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 18, 2015 21:38:25 GMT
Sumptuous is the word! The one with the big tree and the picnic beneath it could be an Impressionist painting come to life.
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Post by htmb on Dec 19, 2015 0:47:07 GMT
What a beautiful old tree!!!
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Post by breeze on Dec 19, 2015 13:05:32 GMT
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Post by breeze on Dec 19, 2015 13:36:07 GMT
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Post by htmb on Dec 19, 2015 14:46:40 GMT
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
The church is quite unusual. Were you ever able to go inside? I'd be interested to know if the interior is as decorative.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2015 16:21:44 GMT
I was looking for the construction date of the church but was unable to find it. Anyway, I suppose that it dates from after the Revolution, because I don't think those mosaics would have survived those times if they already existed back then.
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Post by htmb on Dec 19, 2015 16:23:21 GMT
In looking on the Internet, I saw something somewhere.......a list from the town maybe. I think is said 1886..
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2015 16:24:49 GMT
There was something about building a bell tower on the church then. They might have added the mosaics at the same time.
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Post by htmb on Dec 19, 2015 16:27:19 GMT
Breeze, you're right about the village just being a bend in the road. A look on Google makes that really clear!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2015 16:28:37 GMT
I didn't look at a map, but I saw the population was 181.
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Post by breeze on Dec 19, 2015 17:19:44 GMT
I can't be much help. This was a church we came across unexpectedly on our last day in September 2012. I had known nothing about it beforehand. To my eyes the building does not look old and the pottery on the sides did not look at all weathered. htmb, I also wondered if the inside was as interesting but it was locked.
There used to be a great website listing the patrimony of every little hamlet in France but it's gone from the internet. We made some interesting finds through that website and I really miss it. I'll look through my old bookmarks and see if I can turn up anything about this church, and I'd be happy to know what you might find out.
This region seems to have been the site of some enterprising priests. One of them had an unusual tower built on the church at Maletable and another created from nothing a basilica that is now a place of pilgrimage where the faithful go to pray for people (or maybe I mean souls) in purgatory. I'm not a fan of the architecture of these two places, so no photos.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 19, 2015 18:25:24 GMT
I'd think it highly doubtful that the mosaics were pre-revolutionary based on the style alone. I imagine they are newer than the church -- probably from anywhere between the 1920s & the 1950s. The style of the writing might indicate the 1930s.
I am crushed that this is the end of the thread, although hold out hope of new posts from future visits. This has been illuminating and beautiful to look at, as well. Gosh, you really take great pictures!
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Post by bjd on Dec 19, 2015 18:55:12 GMT
I just had a look at the FOAK -- the mosaics on that church date from 1935. The tower on the church started being planned in 1895, so it's really quite modern.
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Post by htmb on Dec 19, 2015 19:12:45 GMT
It's fun to discover interesting gems like this one.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 19, 2015 19:13:30 GMT
*dances around smugly*
What is FOAK please, Bjd?
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Post by bjd on Dec 19, 2015 20:09:48 GMT
Fount of all Knowledge, aka Wikipedia
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Post by breeze on Dec 19, 2015 21:25:53 GMT
Thanks for that info, bjd. Extra credit for getting more out of wikipedia than I did. (And here I thought I was such a hot googler.)
I wish I had photos to go along with all my memories. I'd like to be able to show you the best gelato I've ever eaten, made by a woman who learned the Italian style in Bologna. I don't have many photos of people. I really wish I could have photographed people we had conversations with but that's not cricket. I don't have good-enough photos of the pretty goat farm, where you can buy delicious cheese and see a small museum of traditional women's caps. My food photos are all unfortunately blurry--my husband says my hands shake when I get near food. He's trying to tell me something.
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Post by mossie on Dec 19, 2015 22:11:11 GMT
Some lovely views. The church mosaics are very interesting. Don't miss out on photos of interesting people, you have a tongue in your head, the worst that can happen is they say "no". But if they realise you are interested in what they are doing or showing you could easily have a willing subject, even a new friend. In some situations palms may demand greasing, just be cautious and use your common sense.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 23, 2015 14:47:45 GMT
Awesome scenery - awesome pics Breeze! Makes me want to jump on a plane right now...
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Post by breeze on Oct 20, 2016 18:22:59 GMT
I came across a whole pamphlet on the commune of Saint-Ouen-de-Secherouvre, with a map showing some mills and panoramas for us to discover next trip.
The pamphlet answered some questions about the church. The mosaics were from 1935, by Louis Barillet. The ceramics are from 1952 by Jean Lerat, whose workshop was at Bourges. We still haven't gotten inside the church, where it seems there are polychrome statues by Jean Lambert-Rucki who shared an atelier with Modigliani. I think to see the inside of the church we'd need to make an appointment at the mairie.
Abbe Louis Girard was the priest there for 52 years and all this work, and more, was due to his energy. He died at 83 when he climbed the bell tower to ring the angelus and fell.
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Post by breeze on Mar 22, 2018 20:06:57 GMT
We were finally able to see inside the church at Saint-Ouen-de-Secherouvre on the Journees du Patrimoine weekend in 2017. The interior was as intriguing as the outside. We’ve poked our heads into a lot of churches and I don’t think we’ve ever seen one like this in France. It was very light inside and the decoration was restrained. Typically country churches in this area have dark interiors and are crowded with paintings and statues of no particular distinction. In the vestibule there’s a plain tile floor and a ceiling with painted beams. The bell rope is in a handy location. On the wall is a memorial with the names of men from St Ouen who died in World War I, with plaques also for two men deported from St Ouen during World War II, all of them “mort pour la France.” Every little village in France remembers who they lost. 143252
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Post by breeze on Mar 22, 2018 20:10:57 GMT
The statues of the Virgin and Saint Joan in the entryway are in the usual style of rural church statuary. But when you look above the doorway to the nave, you see something different, a mural in pale colors of a pastoral scene where Jesus is surrounded by sheep in a grassy field. I found this very appealing.
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Post by breeze on Mar 22, 2018 20:21:39 GMT
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Post by breeze on Mar 22, 2018 20:34:55 GMT
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Post by breeze on Mar 22, 2018 20:42:27 GMT
Here’s another mural, of flames radiating from a statuette in the center. Looking toward the entryway. I believe that all the artistic touches are due to the long-time priest, Abbe Louis Girard, who served the parish from 1911 till his death in 1963. He chose artists to help create a unique church, simple and warm. The inside was light-filled in the early afternoon, so we could see how well the church is cared for. In this area, where there are a lot of old churches but few parishioners, not many of the buildings are in such a good state of maintenance. This church is obviously still well loved.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 22, 2018 22:03:13 GMT
Beautiful pictures and fascinating information, Breeze. Any kind of religious imagery is interesting in that it's giving physical form to abstract ideas/beliefs. I think the triumph of this church is how almost every element of ornamentation is somehow "refreshing" and uplifting. For me, that found its purest expression in the elaborate but small and unshowy light fixture.
A lovely addition to a lovely report -- thank you!
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 22, 2018 22:20:55 GMT
The style is indeed very different from most French churches -- and that's a good thing!
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Post by mossie on Mar 23, 2018 7:46:58 GMT
This is a real beauty of a church, so different from the norm. Thank you for this unusual place.
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