You’ll often see an indication posted on the door: Images Forbidden. Sadly, there are a selection of French websites the place no images are allowed inside and it’s a disgrace, particularly when the place is exceptional and distinctive. I prefer to share images in my posts as they assist talk why I feel the place is particular. So for this submit, I’ll present images of the surface of 6 locations in France which are price visiting and clarify what’s so particular inside.
Why Is Images Not Allowed In Some French Websites?
Some French websites, whether or not they be museums, church buildings, or caves, have their causes for prohibiting images or filming. You will notice the “forbidden to take images” signal or “Interdit de photographier” or “Défense de filmer”, so don’t attempt taking images or movies. Their causes for not permitting images embrace:
1. Preservation: for instance, to guard cave work from environmental air pollution. At the moment, our breath, carbon monoxide, the oil and grime from our fingers, and the fixed visitors by the caves might be dangerous to the work and construction.
2. Copyright Protections: to make sure the artist (or the one who purchases a copyright license) has the unique rights to provide, reproduce, promote, or license a creation. This is applicable significantly to fashionable works the place the copyright lasts 70 years.
3. Monetary: to earn revenue for the positioning, typically the one place to get a photograph is within the present store. They’ve a monopoly on the promoting of reproductions, images, posters, postcards, and many others. and it helps to maintain the gathering maintained and funded.
4. Customer Expertise: it’s necessary to maintain the guests transferring by an exhibit, particularly in small areas like a chapel.
5. Spiritual Causes: a church or chapel is a spot of worship the place individuals go to wish and the very last thing they want is to be interrupted by the sound of digital camera shutters and crowds. So, some locations institute a ban on images
6 French Websites The place No Photographs Are Allowed
Listed here are 6 locations I’ve been to the place I solely have images of the surface, not the within. I do know there are others who break the principles and take images, however I can’t and didn’t. I respect and comply with the principles which have been set and hopefully I’ll be capable of clarify how fantastic every place is to go to.
1. Matisse’s Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence (Vence)
One of many star sights in Vence, within the south of France, is the Chapelle du Rosaire (Rosary Chapel). Henri Matisse (1869-1954) helped the Dominican sisters construct a chapel and the stained glass home windows that he designed are famend. The Chapelle du Rosaire is also called the Matisse Chapel, Vence.
Matisse’s reference to the Dominican order occurred as a result of Matisse had main surgical procedure in Good. His evening nurse was Monique Bourgeois who ultimately grew to become Sister Jacques-Marie and joined the Dominican Order. They’d a particular friendship and it to thank his nurse, he designed the chapel. It took 4 years and was accomplished in 1951.
There are a number of rooms that showcase his drawings however the true attraction is the chapel room with the stained glass home windows (one is a picture of Saint Dominic) and a few summary murals that Matisse did. When the sunshine is streaming by the home windows all the colors (yellow, inexperienced, and blue) are highlighted and it’s really stunning.
Photographs will not be allowed at Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence. I might think about it is because of the truth that it’s a non secular, spiritual place that could be a place of worship. It’s a chapel, in spite of everything. The distraction of tourists taking images would intervene with those that are praying. Plus, the Order does earn money from the sale of posters, postcards, and different souvenirs.
Outdoors, there are two summary drawings by Matisse, one above the chapel window and one above one of many doorways. However with out the signal out entrance indicating that the straightforward, white constructing was the chapel adorned by Matisse, you wouldn’t even comprehend it was there or so important. The terrace on the again has glorious views overlooking the city.
Not solely did Matisse design the chapel, however he additionally designed the clergymen’ vestments in shiny colors of purple, inexperienced, black, purple, and rose, and lots of are on show. The present store is run by the nuns of the Dominican.
Tackle: 466 avenue Henri Matisse, Vence
2. Chapelle Saint-Pierre des Pecheurs (VIllefranche-sur-Mer)
Once I visited Villefranche-sur-Mer, I walked alongside the port and on the marina, I stumbled on a well-known church, La Chapelle Saint-Pierre. Why so well-known? The inside had been totally adorned by filmmaker, poet, and artist, Jean Cocteau (1889-1963).
Cocteau lived on the Resort Welcome (simply across the nook) in 1925-1926. The lodge faces the ocean and the Chapel Saint-Pierre. He returned to Villefranche-sur-Mer in 1956 to color this very small chapel. Cocteau’s frescoes, murals, trompe l’oeil, and chalk drawings are on the partitions and ceiling. They depict Mediterranean life and the story of Saint Pierre, the Patron Saint of fishermen and for this reason the chapel is also called La Chapelle Saint-Pierre des Pecheurs.
His work and drawings are devoted to the fishermen and are primarily carried out in blue and ocher, very like those carried out within the Salle de Marriage, positioned on the Resort de Ville in Menton (the place you possibly can take images.
There’s a 3 € entrance charge and proceeds from it and the sale of postcards are given to the “Prud’hommie des Pecheurs”, the fisherman’s affiliation. The cash helps the fishermen and their households. It’s a nominal quantity to see some stunning artwork and is price a detour. Images in Chapelle Saint-Pierre des Pecheurs, are forbidden.
Tackle: 4 Quai de l’Amiral Courbet, Villefranche-sur-Mer
3. Maison de la Picture (Villeneuve d’Aveyron)
Jean-Marie Périer photographed an unimaginable variety of well-known singers, bands, and entertainers from France and world wide within the sixties and seventies-the period of rock ’n roll and the British Invasion. A big assortment of his celebrated images are on show at La Maison de la Picture (also called Galerie Jean-Marie Périer) within the very small city of Villeneuve d’Aveyron. Had somebody not instructed me about this place, I might have by no means recognized about it. I did an tour to this city from my base in Rodez.
There are a selection of rooms that you just stroll by to see the gathering of images…images of French singers like Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan, American singers like Bob Dylan and James Brown, and lots of different celebrities. There are additionally images of bands just like the Beetles and the Rolling Stones. These are completely gorgeous images with vivid colors (as was the case in that period—-think, “flower energy”).
I want I may present you the images; nevertheless, I revered the rule that no nonetheless or video images was allowed inside Maison de la Picture for copyright causes. They do promote books about Périer’s work, postcards, and posters. I used to be allowed to take images within the store, which is in the primary foyer.
I used to be torn as to what to purchase and determined to buy a poster of French singer, Francoise Hardy as a result of it had particular which means to me, or truly to my niece. When my niece acquired married, she walked down the aisle to one in every of Hardy’s most well-known songs, “Le Temps de l’Amour”. The picture can also be symbolic of the Sixties, when Hardy is carrying a Paco Rabanne gown. I imagine it’s made from metallic.
There’s a nominal entrance charge of 4 € and the woman on the entrance desk was very pleasant however solely speaks French.
Tackle: Pl. des Conques, Villeneuve D’Aveyron
4. Château des Milandes (Castelnaud-la-Chapelle)
Château des Milandes was the house to American singer Josephine Baker within the late Nineteen Thirties to the Sixties. She was so in debt that she was pressured to promote it in 1968. As I wrote on this submit about Baker, “Josephine Baker’s Château des Milandes And Her Loopy Banana Skirt” [LINK], she was fairly a exceptional girl who was far more than simply an entertainer.
The chateau is now owned by the Labarre household and the outside continues to be within the type of the fifteenth century when it was constructed. The inside highlights Baker’s life and is fantastically adorned within the Artwork Deco type. This era of the design was in style within the Twenties and Nineteen Thirties and this was the interval when Baker was particularly in style and recognized for singing and dancing in a banana skirt.
A stroll by the château is a stroll by Baker’s life, with memorabilia from her leisure days when she was a singer and dancer in France. Moreover elevating 12 adopted youngsters from world wide, right here “rainbow tribe”, she additionally frolicked as a spy in World Conflict I for the French Resistance and in later years was a civil rights activist who marched with Martin Luther King.
It was fascinating studying about Baker and I’ve a lot respect for what she did in her life. Though I loved wandering by the grounds and watching the birds of prey present, my primary disappointment was that I used to be unable to take any images or movies contained in the château. My understanding is that images are prohibited inside resulting from copyright and like Maison de la Picture, earns some revenue from the sale of images/postcards.
Tackle: 24250 Castelnaud-la-Chapelle
5. Prehistoric Cave: Font de Gaume (Les Eyzies)
6. Prehistoric Cave: Grotte des Combarelles (Les Eyzies)
I grouped Font de Gaume and Grotte des Combarelles collectively as a result of they each prohibit any images or filming contained in the caves. They’re additionally each positioned within the Vézère Valley of the Dordogne division. I spent two fantastic weeks within the area and visiting caves is among the enjoyable issues to do within the space. Try the various kinds of caves you possibly can go to right here.
What makes these caves so distinctive is that neither are reproductions. They’re the true factor and the caves return 12,000 to 17,000 years. I used to be instructed throughout my excursions that guests, even from the center ages, would put graffiti on the partitions, so these caves have been uncovered to 1000’s of years of “environmental air pollution”.
So why is images not allowed in “actual” prehistoric caves? I might think about that it has to do with the results of lighting and visitors movement—-ensuring the brief expertise inside is perfect the place guests don’t get lost (to take images).
Clearly, these caves are very darkish and utilizing a excessive ISO would produce low-quality pictures. One would wish to make use of a flash (dangerous for the work) or a tripod to make sure there may be much less noise. However having tripods in a “residing” cave could be cumbersome and probably damaging to the inside. It may be a copyright concern, the place individuals would promote images of the cave work. Upon coming into Font de Gaume and Grotte des Combarelles, we positioned our knapsacks and purses in a locked cabinet.
In an effort to protect prehistoric artifacts and cave artwork, there are strict limits on the variety of guests allowed into the caves every day. I bought tickets to each caves (as they’re solely 2 kilometres aside) and I had an English-speaking information for Font de Gaume. The tour lasted about 1 hour and was very fascinating. I felt very fortunate to have gotten a ticket as a result of, on the time, you needed to line up early and solely a sure quantity (7) have been offered for the day. Put up-Covid, tickets can solely be bought on-line. To study extra about Font de Gaume, take a look at my submit right here.
Font de Gaume Tackle: 1-4 Av. des Grottes, 24620 Les Eyzies
Grotte des Combarelles Tackle: 24620 Les Eyzies
Have you ever been to any French websites the place images will not be allowed however ought to be visited? Please share.
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