NORTHERN BEAUTY by P.B. Lecron

Here's one more monumental door, this one in the north of France at 3 rue de Bergues in Esquelbecq, a typical Flemish village, population 2,200.  The house was built in 1780; it's sculpted façade is listed on the inventary of Monuments Historiques.

Esquelbecq is situated in the heart of Flanders on the banks of the Yser, a well-known river which formed a natural obstacle to the German advance during WWI. The village's name is derived from the Dutch Ekelsbeke or "acorn brook" because the Yser is lined with numerous oak trees.

Vocabulary
Flamand(e):  Flemish
Flandres: Flanders
un chêne:  an oak tree
un gland:  an acorn
glander:  to hang around

Another in my series of French monumental doors: Stone and Illusion

Text & photo © P.B. Lecron

PORTE À PORTE by P.B. Lecron

Hôtel de la Lauzière, Arles

Here's another stop-dead-in-your-tracks early 17th century monumental door. The elaborate façade is conspicuous proof of the social status of the grande famille that once lived within the walls of the hôtel particulier to which it gives entrance. 


At 42 rue de la République in Arles, the door is framed by stone torsades sculpted in the Mannerist style, a movement in art and architecture between the Renaissance and Baroque periods in which unusual effects were obtained by the use of scale, lighting, perspective and color.

Vocabulary
une grande famille: an important family as opposed to a big family, which would be translated as une famille nombreuse


hôtel particulier: an imposing private residential structure; a townhouse

une colonne torse: a twisted column
torsader: to twist

porte à porte: door-to-door

Read more: Stone and Illusion

Text & photos ©2011 P.B. Lecron