Le Sidobre

Le Sidobre is a range of hills to the north east of Castres and famous for its granite. Chris has a friend there and has spent many happy hours walking around the unusual formations. More of that soon. Our trip to the Sidobre included granite but went beyond, to an unusual building…

Le Pavillon d’ Adélaïde

You can still visit many churches dating from the 11^th and 12^th centuries but there are very few residences remaining. At Burlats, a small town to the north east of Castres, on the Agout River, there is just that: le Pavillon d'Adélaïde. This residence dates from the second half of the 12^th century and was part of a castle which has now disappeared. This was one of the places that welcomed troubadours, who came to sing of many things, including Adélaïde’s charms and beauty. Unfortunately for her and the family, the crusades against the Albigeois were disastrous and she lost both her husband and her only son. The castle was abandoned and fell into ruins.

With the exception of the Pavillon. This was incorporated (14^th or 15^th century) into a religious establishment and would have been thus saved, if the wars of religion hadn’t come along. So back to violence and destruction and by the 17^th century it is said to have been no more than walls. Do not underestimate, however, the value of even just walls – it was restored (18^th century) as a warehouse for a paper mill, then part of a textile factory which kept going until 1957. Abandonned once more, it was restored in 1982. And there, in one building, you have a potted history of the district, including the present-day will to safeguard the cultural heritage of a town, commune or district.

Photos at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Burlats

Granite forms

Not a lot to say about granite. Except that it is very hard. In the Sidobre there is a huge amount of it and I think it supplies all the monumental masons in France. Quarries, however, are quarries. What is unique about the Sidobre is the unusual forms that these immense rocks of granite take. Not just in the river bed, which is impressive enough, but in the forest, where you can walk from one huge form to another. The rocks balancing on each other are said to be unique.

The last few pictures are of Notre-Dame du Granit at Lacrouzette, where there are panels of granite sculpted in 1994, using some cunning combination of low-relief and shadow to make pictures all around the sides of the interior.

This is where the pictures do their own talking.

Photos at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/GraniteForms

Granite factory

All well and good to quarry the stuff, but then what happens? Well, it gets transported in huge blocks to granite factories, which are kind of like sawmills, with saws of a different hardness, like diamond teeth, for example. And these days, computer controlled. Very few men in the actual factory and amazing shapes being sawn by (I guess) crazy mathematical formulae. The one we liked best was akin to a huge deck chair, exactly contoured for the average back, heated by the sun, and very hard to leave.

Again, the photos tell the story.

Photos at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/GraniteFactory