In the footsteps of the Impressionists

The Seine Valley, with its special natural light, is the birthplace of Impressionism. Monet's house and garden in Giverny is the starting point of this tour of painted landscapes.

The second stop is in Rouen, the capital of Normandy. Here, Monet rented an apartment opposite the cathedral, and one can see some of his paintings of the building in the large Impressionist section of the Musée des Beaux-Arts. But it was the sea, with its changing colours and never-ending skies which most fascinated this group of artists. The port at Le Havre and the beaches of Sainte-Adresse and Etretat were among their favourite subjects.

Honfleur is another Mecca of Impressionism. Eugène Boudin and the Dutch painter Johan Barthold Jongking were the first to paint outside. A young Monet, aged only 18, took advice from these masters. Baudelaire and Courbet met in Honfleur in 1859. They were followed by all the other enfants terribles of painting: Courbet, Corot, Sisley, Pissaro and Renoir. They would met up in the Saint Siméon farm. Some of the sights to see are: the old bay and its port, the salt storehouse and the Eugène Boudin Museum.

It was in Trouville that the American, James McNeil Whistler, got his inspiration. He vied with his European colleagues' talent. Deauville and Cabourg did not escape the paintbrush either. Today one must imagine its now popular beaches as they were almost one and a half centuries ago, with a few elegant ladies with parasols and hats and slightly risqué gentlemen who sometimes dared to take a prudish paddle in the sea.

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The lace route of Normandy

The exquisite lace creations of Alençon, Caen, Bayeux and Argentan were born two centuries ago. The lace route of Normandy links together seven towns, Bayeux, Courseuilles, Caen, Argentan, La Perrière, Alençon and Villedieu les Poêles, each of which has its own particular stitch produced either by hand or by bobbin.
By creating academies and schools, lace enthusiasts have brought back to life this delicate craft industry. This rebirth has been helped by the fact that top designers are especially interested in their high quality production.
Visitors are not only urged to learn about the history of Norman lace, through the museums in Bayeux or Alençon, but also to meet the lace-makers themselves.

The lace academy of Bayeux

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The Cathedral Museum of Dol in Brittany

This cathedral exhibition centre takes you on a multidimensional journey: historic, architectural, technical, spiritual and social. Using the latest technology, the museum is constructed around the idea that governs all cathedral construction.

The Cathedraloscope

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The bell foundry of Villedieu-les-Poêles

Comille-Havard is the heiress of a Villedieu-les-Poêles tradition that has been going since the end of the Middle Ages. Venus de Lorraine, the first bell foundry owners, were established in the sixteenth century.
Every spring, they travelled to neighbouring towns and villages in order to make the bells there, at the foot of the tower in which the bell would be installed.
Today the Villedieu foundry, built in 1865, continues to make bells for churches, ships and public buildings world-wide in the traditional fashion. The workshop has hardly changed and visitors can see the ovens and moulds built in a heat-resistant mixture of clay, goat's hair and horse dung, as well as the deep pits where the bells are melted into shape.
New technology has made its mark here all the same: the foundry models the bells by computer. This technology allows the outline to be refined. By changing the outline, the sound of the bell changes, thus allowing a modern bell to be hung in an old building.

The bell foundry

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