Showing posts with label Meudon-sur-Seine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meudon-sur-Seine. Show all posts

14 February 2014

Jean-Baptiste Piketty in Meudon-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France

The Piketty family tomb in the Cimetière des Longs Réages in Meudon.
 
Archeologist Jean-Baptiste Piketty (1827–94) wanted to be buried in a dolmen, so – despite some opposition – bought the Ker-Han dolmen in the commune of Saint Philibert (Morbihan), Brittany, and arranged for it to be transported here.
 
 
 
'DOLMEN
DE KER-HAN
CNE DE ST PHILIBERT
PRÈS DE CARNAC
MORBIHAN'
 

13 February 2014

Rabelais in Meudon-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France


This sculpture is in front of the town hall and is the work of George Saupique and erected in 1946. François Rabelais was the parish priest of Meudon from 1551 to 1553, slightly conflicting with the dates below.

'FRANÇOIS RABELAIS
Curé de Meudon de 1550 à 1552
Oeuvre d'ANDRÉ FRANÇOIS TRUMPHÈME
1820 - 1888
offerte aux Meudonnais par les
CIGALIERS DE PROVENCE
en 1886 lors des premières fêtes Rabelais.
Le buste a été détruit en 1942.
En 1996 la Ville de Meudon a commandé une
nouvelle fonte d'après le plâtre original,
inauguré le 5 Octobre
par Henry Wolf, Maire de Meudon.'

So the original bust, presented to the people of Meudon by Frédéric Mistral's 'Cigaliers de Provence' in 1886, was destroyed in 1946 and reconstructed from the original plaster model in 1996 here in Place Rabelais.

Rabelais is of course associated with the Pierre levée dolmen in Poitiers, although his relationship to this dolmen, at the northern entrance to the Parc de l'Observatoire in Meudon, is far more tenuous.



I couldn't resist including these two views of Paris from the park: here you can see the Eiffel Tower to the left, and the Sacré Cœur in the middle background. The large building in the middle is Bouygues Telecom tour Sequana at Issy-les-Moulineaux.

A blanched La Défense seen through the trees.

My François Rabelais posts:
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
François Rabelais in Seuilly
Rabelais in Meudon-sur-Seine
Rabelais at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés

Jules Machard in Meudon-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France

'JULES MACHARD
PEINTRE D'HISTOIRE, GRAND PRIX DE ROME
CHEVALIER DE LA LÉGION D'HONNEUR 1839 – 1900'

The above monument is by Machard's uncle Gustave Crauk (1827–1905), whose brother was the painter Charles Crauk (1819–1905).

23 September 2011

Louis-Ferdinand Céline in Meudon-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine (92), France: Literary Île-de-France #5

In Meudon-sur-Seine, Céline's house at 25 Route des Gardes is easy to find, although it's hidden behind a wall.

This is the path leading to it.

I don't think a great deal has changed to the appearance since his death.

Even the gates appear to be the same.

Finding Céline's grave is another matter. The Cimetière des Longs Réages is difficult enough to find anyway (I had to ask two locals who certainly knew, but the entrance, although quite large, is obscure), and then there's the problem of finding the grave, as the office appears to be permanently closed, or perhaps only during the time that the workmen re-build the toilet block, etc.

I don't know how long exactly I spent walking round, but eventually I found a shady spot to power up my netbook to look at an old photo I'd downloaded from the net. I've no idea how old this photo is, but if anyone objects to an infringement of copyright, please post a comment at the bottom of this post and I'll remove it as soon as I see it. But I must admit the photo was very useful, and even I could spot the cemetery gates on the right and then deduced more or less where the grave is.

The Société d'études céliniennes had placed a (now almost illegible due to sunning - its metal parts rusted) band around it, which I temporarily removed so that I could take a photo of a more original state of the grave.

Here at least, Céline is recognized: earlier this year, I wrote here about the spinelessness of the French government kowtowing to the Jewish lobby in the form, I believe, of only one tedious but noisy guy, thus backtracking on its original intention to celebrate the fifty years since the death of this brilliant and highly influential writer who was admittedly anti-semitic, therefore in some ways insane like all racists.

The engraving of the ship is an interesting feature.

I'm a little unclear about the existence of the small cross to the top left: Céline was an atheist up to his death as far as I know, so there must be some story here. Maybe someone more knowledgeable of this area of Céline's life can enlighten us.