Other travel notes
- Bosanski Brod - how the other half live
- Pianos in France
- A slice of Brod
- World heritage sites
- Barcelona by bike
- European bathing locations
- The biodiversity of dragons' teeth
- French night trains
- Let's Go! - exploring Gorizia and Nova Goriza
- Meet and Greet Brussels
- Meet and Greet Lubeck
- What are the chances of missing a connection?
- How do you solve a problem like Monturiol?
- Sports report
- Sunnyland - an anti-war advert?
- Swedish night trains
- The architecture tram
- Third Place
- Taking the train to Spain
A lasting legacy
For visitors to this museum in Carpentras, there’s a special treat and it’s not even an exhibit.
Walk into any museum or art gallery and there’s one exhibit, often in pride of place, which most people just walk past.
image by Neverstoplearning26
It’s the list of benefactors.
At the Inguimbertine in Carpentras, what would otherwise be a wall to walk past, is a gem.
Let’s look at what used to happen first.
Initially, donors would have their coat of arms added to the wall - think of it as alms for arms.
But as France moved into a new era, where the trappings of aristocracy where no longer a badge of honour, the depictions had to change.
Paintings were made personal - there’s the odd portrait, but often something more telling about the person.
And what we have now is the essence of someone captured in a single picture and a window into their world.
Collectively, we have a view of the varied people of Carpentras, which judging by the pictures, is also, perhaps a view of the world they saw beyond.
Getting there
It takes about 30 minutes to get to Carpentras from Avignon Centre, but if you are coming from Paris and want to go straight to Carpentras, change at the TGV station.
You can find out more about Carpentras here.