Rehearsing with the Ars Antiqua the past several days has repeatedly taken me to the Marais. After the first rehearsal, I decided to stroll down Michel's street (Turenne) and turn onto the Rue des Francs-Bourgeois to visit the Square Louis XIII, which I think of as the very heart of the Marais district.
I won't even pretend that this Louis or any other was anything other than arrogant beyond belief. This statue initially gives the impression that the young king is smiling, but that is only because the skill of the sculptor chiseled a mustache which creates that effect. Sneer maybe, but smile never. I'm reading about Louis XIV and what a terrible father Louis XIII had been to him, so I admit to my prejudice. Anyway, today we're concentrating on 'his' square.
The first day I walked by, I noticed workmen busily erecting some metal pipes and scaffolding within an area enclosed by temporary fencing, and I thought nothing of it. But another block to the west caught my eye and that of everyone else. The enormous lamp shades which had just been hung over a busy pedestrian street were most unusual, if not exactly beautiful.
I told Janice about them, so we returned in the evening to see how they looked when lit. But it gets dark so late these days that we returned by 10 and figured it is a sight we simply won't see.
Underneath, the lamps either read, "I love linen" or indicated that the exhibition was sponsored by the European Union. Apparently almost 80% of the world's linen comes from France and Holland, so this was being celebrated in typical French fashion.
First, city dwellers simply must see flax growing, so people constructed numerous sturdy wooden boxes, filled them with dirt, and grew a very healthy crop of flax which spread for half a city block. People could not resist touching and photographing the "field".
Next, you need to display an enormous stack bales of the harvested dry flax which will provide the fibers for the threads.
They also stacked many cartons of the processed flax, showing it after being separated into fine fibers which will be twisted into threads.
There were many impressive spools of died thread, fairly sturdy stuff.
Several workers were available to explain the exhibition, in various languages, for this is a tourist area.
There were also large bolts of fabric flapping quietly in the breeze. We had an impressive thunder storm last night. I had to wonder whether they attempted to protect any of the exhibit.
From this vantage point in the park, you can get an impression of the size of the exhibit, with the bales of cut flax on the far left, the barrels of loose flax fibers lying on their sides, stacked high, the tower of spools of died thread, and the tower of bolts. What I'm not showing are the articles of clothing, linens, etc in the boxed area (guess I wasn't interested, and it was usually crowded).
Some people enjoyed looking at it from a distance,
and others couldn't care less.
Since the Marais is also known for its many fine clothing stores, several joined into the celebration.
We're getting ready to go to Lyon tomorrow, so we will likely be silent for a few busy days.
With love from us both,
Evan
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