La Barde, France — On our last full day in southwestern France, Independent Study student Macy Conrad (’18) and I had a cultural visit with our host Paul and Patricia Taylor to the ancient town of Saint-Émilion. This town, set in a place that has been inhabited for millenia, is a World Heritage site amidst extensive vineyards and wineries. It has many architectural and historical treasures, which we could only touch upon during our short visit.
This wall is all that remains of a 13th-Century monastery demolished in 1337. It is referred to as the “Great Wall”. The building stones in this wall and most of the town itself are Oligocene limestones, some rich with fossil fragments.
The interior of the Collegiate Church, a mix of Romanesque and Gothic architecture.
12th-Century frescoes still survive in the Collegiate Church of Saint-Émilion. This set shows the grisly story of Saint Catherine.
The cloisters of the Collegiate Church. Imagine the characters who walked through these passages, from Crusaders of the 12th Century to occupying German soldiers of the 20th.
More 13th century frescoes in the cloisters.
The building stones show magnificent weathering over the last 700 years or so.
The most elaborate weathering accentuates burrow systems in the Oligocene limestones. Later building stones in other regions were actually carved to show apparent weathering patterns like these.
Our lunch view. The bell tower is for a church carved into the limestone below. This is another underground church like the one we visited in Aubeterre.
Our lunch in Saint-Émiliion. Yes, fieldwork is tough in southwestern France. Macy Conrad (’18) is on the left, with Patricia and Paul Taylor and then me.
I want to add an image of the war memorial in Saint-Émilion. Every French village, town and city has at least one. They were erected after World War I and usually inscribed with hundreds of names. The World War II local dead are often inscribed later on the bases.
Finally, a few images from our delightful lodgings in the Taylor home at Bard’s End, La Barde. This is the lounge, which held livestock when this was a farmhouse in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The lounge from the other side, with Paul Taylor entering from outside.
The multi-talented Macy was a great help to the Taylors as they assembled a set of furniture from Ikea.
All our dinners were outside on the patio facing the River Dronne. Delightful!
Thank you again to Paul and Patricia Taylor for making this research expedition such a success and pleasure. We will report our results in later posts!
Macy and I leave tomorrow morning on a long train trip to Paris. I then fly home and Macy continues her European adventure with a visit to friends in Norway. Team France is done with fieldwork. The extensive labwork begins this summer with our specimens.
