Car Hire in Limoges, France
Limoges isn't a city that takes a long stay, however it is worth a glance for an impressive train station as well as the craft industries that made the city a household name: enamel in the Middle Ages and, since 18th century, china, including a number of the best ever created. If these ain’t appealing, then the city's completely unique museum collections - and it is Gothic cathedral - will reward a visit. But it really has to be stated that the industry these days appears a spent tradition, hard hit by the recession and changing tastes on the list of rich. The local kaolin (china clay) mines that gave Limoges’ china its special quality are done-in, and also the workshops survive mainly about the tourist trade.
The Cathédrale St-Étienne, a landmark for miles around, was initiated in 1273 and designed on the style of the cathedral of Amiens, though just the choir, completed in the early 13th century, is pure Gothic. All of the other structure was added piecemeal across the centuries, the western part of the nave was not only until 1876. Essentially the most eye-catching external feature is the sixteenth-century facade of the north transept, with its built-in full Flamboyant style with elongated arches, clusters of pinnacles together with delicate tracery in window and gallery. For the west end of the nave, the tower, erected on a Romanesque base which had to be massively reinforced to bear the weight, has octagonal upper storeys, that resembles most churches in the region. It once stood as a separate campanile and probably looked the better for it. Inside, the effects are considerably more enjoyable, plus the rose stone looks warmer than on the weathered exterior. The feeling of soaring height is highlighted by most of the upward-reaching lines of the pillars, the net of vaulting ribs, the curling, flame-like lines repeated in the arcading of the side chapels and also the rose window, and, most importantly, whilst you look within the nave, through the narrower and a lot more pointed arches of the choir.
The very best of the city's museums - featuring its showpiece collections of enamelware dating back as far as the 12th century - is the
Musée Municipal de l'Évêché (June daily except Tues 10-11.45am & 2-6pm; July-Sept daily 10-11.45am & 2-6pm; Oct-May daily except Tues 10-11.45am & 2-5pm; free) within the old bishop's palace near the cathedral. There's an interesting progression to be seen in the museum, with the simple, sober, Byzantine-influenced champlevé (copper filled with enamel), to the later, mainly 17th and 18th-century work that used a greater number of colours and indulged in elaborate virtuoso portraiture. By the 19th century, on the other hand, the spirit and vigour had dissipated, and even though there are contemporary artisans on the city using the medium, their work, too - judging from this display - shouldn't be far more successful. Another highlight is an exhibition of the wartime Resistance (June daily except Tues 10-11.45am & 2-6pm; July to mid-Sept daily 10-11.45am & 2-6pm; rest of year daily except Tues 2-5pm; free) housed in an outbuilding opposite the museum's main entrance.
Outside, when the weather conditions are good, the well-laid-out and interesting botanical garden (daily sunrise to sunset; free) is an inviting prospect, descending subtly towards the River Vienne. At the garden's northern corner lies an old but relevant refectory which now houses the wonderful Cité des Métiers et des Arts (June & Sept daily 2-6.30pm; July & Aug daily 11am-6.30pm; most of year Wed, Sat & Sun 2-6pm; 25F/?3.81) showcasing pieces - mostly carpentry - by France's top crafts' guild members.
Over to the west of the cathedral is the partly refurbished old quarter of the town. Help your way right through to rue de la Boucherie, for a thousand years the domain of the butchers' guild, and today featuring several good restaurants. The dark, cluttered chapel of St-Aurélien , having a delicate fourteenth-century cross outside, is owned by them, while one of their former shop houses makes an interesting little museum, the Maison de la Boucherie , at no. 36 (July to mid-Sept daily 10am-1pm & 3-7pm; free). On top of the street is the market in place de la Motte and, to the right, partly hidden by adjoining houses, the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century church of St-Michel-des-Lions , known as after the two badly weathered Celtic lions guarding the south door and topped by among the finest towers and spires in the region. The interior is dark and atmospheric, with two beautiful, densely coloured fifteenth-century windows on each side of the choir, one of which - at the south aisle - depicts the Tree of Jesse.
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