Frédéric Mistral in Maillane (13)

The Centre Frédéri [sic] Mistral in Maillane, with an impressive bust of the poet at the side. Maillane is a small village, and is Frédéric Mistral: even the local Maison de Presse sells statuettes of Mireille (or should I say Mirèio – Provençal is quite rightly taken very seriously here). If this makes it sound like a tourist village, it certainly isn't as the streets were deserted, there wasn't a parking meter in sight, and the only car park I found was the one outside the cemetery. There is a bureau de tourisme (incidentally originally Mistral's second home after Le Mas du Juge), although it was closed at the time of our visit.

There are several plaques dedicated to Mistral (mostly in his third and last house) although as they're all in Provençal I won't attempt to make a hash of a translation.

And so to Mistral's final home, which became a museum in 1944 following the death of his wife the previous year. Due to serious work needed on the first floor it will probably be a few years before it's fully open again. I found the guided tour useful because knowledgeable, although at the same time it was horribly humourless and perfunctory. Another thing too: there is a number of (often recent) online images of the museum put up by visitors, but we weren't allowed to take any photos at all.

The magnificent memorial to Mistral in the garden of his home, dating from 1929, sculpted by J. Itier, and at the bottom at the back is a list of Mistral's works.

And finally, his elaborate grave in the cemetery in Maillane, a replica of the Pavillon de la Reine Jeanne in Les Baux, and which doesn't bear his name:

My Frédéric Mistral posts:
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Frédéric Mistral at Le Mas du Juge
Frédéric Mistral: Mireille
Frédéric Mistral in Maillane
Le Pavillon de la Reine Jeanne, Les Baux-de-Provence
Frédéric Mistral in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Frédéric Mistral in Saint-Giniez, Marseille
Frédéric Mistral, Marseille
Frédéric Mistral in Avignon
Frédéric Mistral in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
Frédéric Mistral in Grambois
Frédéric Mistral in Saint-Michel-l'Obsevatoire
Frédéric Mistral in Pertuis