The Lycee Massena.... Our apartment building is on the Rue du Lycee, and, a block away, fronting on the Avenue Felix Faure, is the regional high school, the building dating from 1929, the school itself from Napoleon I, who decreed that every town should provide for the education of its citizens. We walk past the Lycee almost daily, marveling at it...sort of a Mediterranean art deco, we think, with ample artistic flourishes and local references, unlike anything else we've ever seen here or elsewhere, and just beautiful. Someone wrote somewhere that, paraphrasing, we build our buildings, and then they build us. One hopes the young people attending this institution appreciate its extraordinary history, art, and architecture. Security issues being what they are these days, with guards at every entrance checking IDs, we didn't even think about trying to go inside. There are various websites about the school, the most comprehensive (and in English, too) at Wikipedia. Click to enlarge and see more of the tile work, mosaics, painting, and sculpture.
 |
| Covers an entire large city block; no way to get even a full frontal shot |
 |
| At the southeast corner is the clock tower and a large inscription |
 |
| Giving the date and place and some words of wisdom |
 |
| Moving north along Avenue Felix Faure |
 |
Near the central portal, a plaque with the same sad reminder of fascism
one sees all over Europe...here of the Jewish children taken from this school
and murdered
|
 |
| Along the east side on Faure Ave. |
 |
| Moving on around to the north side of the complex |
 |
| Now along the west side |
 |
Typical of the ornamentation all over the buildings and
their highest bits |
 |
| Dozens of sculptures...beautiful place! |
No comments:
Post a Comment