A Tuesday in July
Recognize the church? That’s our street in the late 19th century. The building at the end no longer exists, and the trees are gone. Well, there are trees now, but different:
They’ve also changed the name of the boulevard to de Lattre de Tassigny. Our next door neighbour’s wall and fence haven’t changed in the slightest. That church was listed as a national monument (ISMH) two weeks ago. I’m not sure why, I don’t find it particularly attractive:
The interior is unusual. I haven’t seen it in person but I’ve found a postcard:
It’s going to be de-churchinized and made into a cultural centre of some sort. I hope that includes stopping the damn bell which rings every hour from 8am to midnight. And depending on the wind, it can feel like it’s ringing right here in the garden.
we get to watch it ring
The listing is not without consequence. We got a little letter explaining that the listing of the church translates to the listing of the boulevard and the buildings up to 500 metres away. Number 42 is only 100 metres away. That means that if we ever want to make changes to the facade or colours we’d technically have to get permission from authorities. I say technically because all people can see from the street is this:
So no one can make an argument that a change would affect the look of the boulevard at all.
My Mazamet 
I would miss the bells. I used to live right next to a church in a quiet village and loved the quarter, half, three-quarter and hourly chimes. It did drive me slightly mad though, as I started to imagine them when they weren’t actually sounding.
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We’ve got five churches in town, and it’s a small town. We’ll still hear bells, just from a slightly greater distance 😀
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It would drive me nuts all that ringing. ( I am Esmeralda after all *laughs*)
“It’s going to be de-churchinized” – I’m stealing that word right now *pockets it and leaves a perfect fake in its place with a black velvet glove on top that has ‘E’ embroidered in silver thread*.
I find postcards like that quite fascinating when you can hold them up against how the views look now. We are in the future for those photographers. It rarely looks better an all.
– esme also finding the church a bit ungainly and Masonic upon the Cloud
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I loath the intrusion of bells as a mandatory time check I have to listen to whether I want to or not. The call from the minarets is no different: it’s just rude. It’s like a massive public timed fart one must endure until the air clears.
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It’s definitely invasive. Unfortunately there’s a whole band of politicians who defend them on the grounds of cultural heritage. What in the world does that even mean? What’s cultural about a bell ringing?
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Smallpox had a grand tradition, too. But like its eradication from the public square, I think ‘culture’ can survive the silencing of bells as a public time keeping practice. Technology has advanced this ‘culture’ of time keeping. By all means use them on occasion of celebration or warning but enough already with hourly gong shows.
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Hahahahaha,
– esme sat with a peg on her nose upon the Cloud
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Out in the sticks there were five village churches within hearing …the bells used to ring in sequence and we had visions of a beadle cycling frantically from one church to another.
Technically? Actually obligatory. Never underestimate the French delight of denunciation…
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It’s a strange looking church, that tower thing looks too heavy for the rest of it. Inside, it reminds me of a Methodist Church I went to as a child, where there wasn’t anything pretty to distract me during the many dull parts of the services.
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It looks so pretty around your area, but I also couldn’t be doing with church bells constantly ringing. They are nice to hear occasionally, but not on an hourly basis, and especially until midnight when all good Christians should be tucked up in bed and fast asleep. 😀
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I think the listing is great, Pinky. Imagine yourself at 110. The house you’ve loved and laboured over for decades is about to pass to a stranger…but they can’t ruin what you’ve done or…-gasp-…pull it down to build a supermarket, because it’s listed! I admit I can’t imagine the French ever becoming that commercialised, but still, the house will be safe and with it a kind of immortality.
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