Guide to Limoges – The Good Life France | EUROtoday

Awarded Creative City standing by UNESCO, Limoges provides way over simply porcelain. In her information to Limoges, Gillian Thornton heads to the guts of the Limousin.

One railway station tends to look just about like one other, simply forgettable and purely useful, however you simply must linger and go searching while you move by Limoges-Bénédictins.

Built between 1924 and 1929, this gloriously over-the-top mixture of Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Neoclassical types is one in all Europe’s most stunning stations, the right entry level to a ‘Creative City’ listed by UNESCO for its experience not simply in porcelain, however in enamel and stained glass too, collectively often known as the humanities of fireside.

Guide to Limoges

I arrive in Limoges by practice from Poitiers on a journey by the northern a part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine area. If hungry Beckons, seize a chew at Léo Léa Bénédictins, an upbeat eaterie that raises the bar in railway eating places. Then cease out entrance to admire the lighthouse-style tower earlier than heading into city.

The Tourist Office on Place Wilson is an effective place to begin, not solely to plan your itinerary but additionally for the tempting array of native crafts and merchandise on sale. Turn one strategy to the river Vienne and the Cité district, spiritual hub of town for hundreds of years; the other way for the bigger Château district or Upper Town, historically the executive district.

I head first to the Cité, dominated by Saint-Etienne Cathedral. Begun within the 13^th century on the positioning of a Romanesque church, it took 600 years to finish and is dwelling to a uncommon black enamel Virgin and a few wonderful stained glass. Outside, the in depth Bishops’ Gardens are a delight with formal flowerbeds and strategic benches unfold over hilltop terraces with views over the Vienne.

The close by ecclesiastical palace is now dwelling to Limoges’ Museum of Fine Arts with a neighborhood historical past assortment spanning Roman Augustoritum to the current day; work and sculpture from spiritual topics to Renoir; and, my favourite, beautiful enamelwork in jewel colours and complex designs. Just a passing nod to porcelain, however Limoges’ world-famous china has a museum all of its personal, of which extra later.

Close to the cathedral, Rue Haute-Cité is fringed with an eclectic mixture of eating places and half-timbered homes. For one thing a bit particular, strive La Cuisine du Cloitre, a gastronomic restaurant and B&B in a former convent. At lunchtime, take pleasure in a easy method, and within the night, a ‘shock’ tasting menu from chef Guy Queroix. Love a flea market or flea market? Then go to on the second Sunday of every month for Les Puces de la Cité.

Turn your again on the Cité, cross over Boulevard Louis Blanc, and also you enter the historic Chateau District or Ville Haute, though the citadel not exists. Many of the dilapidated half-timbered homes right here have been demolished within the early 20^th century and the city rebuilt in Art Deco fashion.

Look above the tempting store fronts for traditional interval fashion and don’t miss the Pavillon de Verdurier on Place Saint-Pierre, a former chilly retailer from the Twenties. Entirely coated with glazed ceramic tiles in shades of inexperienced and blue, this distinctive constructing was designed by Roger Gonthier, architect of Bénédictins station, and is now an exhibition middle.

Pockets of the previous city nonetheless exist. Tucked out of sight between two Art Deco streets, I discover the Cour du Temple, a courtyard surrounded by arcades and half-timbered properties from the 17^th century. And I really like the village environment of the Boucherie quarter, the previous meat merchants’ district that also comprises the tiny chapel of Saint Aurélian, saved by the influential native butchers throughout the Revolution. Visit on the third Friday in October for the Petit Ventre meals competition, revived within the Seventies to thwart the demolition of this historic space.

But you may eat properly all 12 months spherical at Les Petits Ventres restaurant which serves nice steaks and different dishes in conventional environment. There is meals temptation too on the close by Halles Centrales in Place de la Motte, the place meals stalls are interspersed by snack shops and wine bars. An important spot to socialize on Sunday mornings.

Before I found Limoges’ well-known porcelain business, I visited town’s newest artwork venue, FRAC-Artothèque Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Housed in an imaginatively transformed print works, FRAC is a showcase for up to date artwork throughout every kind of inventive media, with the added bonus of free entry and a trendy street-front café. Definitely one so as to add to any arts tour.

And so to that well-known porcelain. In 1768, a seam of kaolin – the essential uncooked materials for porcelain – was found outdoors town. Chinese porcelain was already extremely prized for its hardness, translucence and whiteness however quickly, with considerable provides of each wooden and water on the doorstep, Limoges was properly and actually on the tremendous arts map. And no matter your degree of curiosity, there’s something to coach and entertain on the metropolis’s two must-see porcelain points of interest.

Five generations of the Bernadaud household have been on the forefront of high-quality porcelain since 1863, producing tableware, ornamental objects and jewellery. Guided excursions of their historic manufacturing unit simply outdoors town middle supply a close-up introduction to the manufacturing course of, which now takes place 20km away at Oradour-sur-Glane, a reputation sadly well-known as a martyr village after a bloodbath by SS troops in 1944.

Here in Limoges, guests study manufacturing strategies from making molds and mixing paste by first and second firings to varied strategies of ornament. I significantly liked the perception into status tableware commissions for shoppers such because the Chateau of Chenonceau, Air France Premier, the Plaza-Athénée in Paris, a limited-edition lipstick case for Dior, and a fragrance bottle for Guerlain. At the top of the tour, the manufacturing unit store cabinets supply an open invitation to boost your individual dwelling at a reduction.

Just past the Haute Ville, the Adrien Dubouché National Porcelain Museum holds the world’s largest assortment of porcelain from Antiquity to the current day. Founded in 1845 by the Prefect of Haute-Vienne, the museum takes its title from the person who took over as Director in 1865 and labored tirelessly to enlarge and promote the gathering.

On Dubouché’s loss of life in 1881, the gathering was nationalized and the present constructing purpose-built, opening in 1900. I fell in love first with the outside, embellished with elegant home windows and adorned facade, after which once more inside with the mosaic flooring, stained glass home windows and wrought iron grills, the right backdrop to this complete assortment.

Touch screens present additional insights in English and no matter your style in dwelling décor, you can find inspiration right here. My personal tableware is white, so I gaze in awe at a line of 16 plates revealing the completely different levels of adorning a bespoke blue-and-gold service for King Hassan II of Morocco.

Then, suitably impressed, I returned to the Haute Ville to browse the boutiques, armed with a bank card and the free Tourist Office map highlighting greater than 30 impartial retailers. An important exercise on this inventive and charming metropolis.

Gillian traveled to Limoges by practice (3.5 hours from Paris) and flew again to London-Stansted with Ryanair after staying on the Hotel Ibis Limoges Centre. Or take a Flixbus service into Bénédictins bus station. A Limoges City Pass for 1, 2 or 3 days offers free entry to museums, porcelain and leisure websites.

By Gillian Thornton, one of many UK’s main journey writers and a daily author for The Good Life France Magazine and web site.

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