Facade art (19), heads (9)

Bordeaux blue sky

Amazing how blue the sky above Bordeaux can be...



The "Flemish houses" on Chartrons quay.



Same.



Grandes Hommes market.



A very funny building between the cathedral and Gambetta square.





On the courthouse.



Place de la Bourse.



In front of the cathedral.



St. Michel.

Facade art (18), heads (8)

Someone begged me for another post on this subject.
As a matter of fact I am sorting them out (200 or more). More men then women (3:2) and quite some (10%) of which you can't tell if its a man or a woman. Sometimes it is possible because f.e. a house has one man, one woman, one man etc.







Generally there will be another one to the right, looking to this one.









This is rare...

The so-called three M's of Bordeaux

Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592), philosopher, writer and politician.



Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu (1689 - 1755), philosopher.



François Mauriac (1885 - 1970), writer.



Thanks Wiki.

Bordeaux coat-of-arms (2)

What a very quick answer!
I recieved this link (new window).



The top blue part stands for France.
Then there is a leopard, in the old days three leopards, as a reminder to the English domination.
Then there is a fortress, which in fact is a stylized image of the Grosse Cloche, the big bell.



The two towers next to it on the coat-of-arms have disapeared.

At the bottom there is a "sea", symbolizing the Garonne river. You also can see a croissant there as a symbol for the Port de la Lune, the moon formed port of Bordeaux.



And now of course this is simple. Its three croissants, the so called Chiffre de Bordeaux, the Bordeaux figure or monogram.

Talking about croissants. Means growing and stands for the growing moon.
After the Turcs (who have the croissant in their coat-of-arms) were defeated at Vienna, the viennese bakers were allowed to make bread in the form of the croissant.
Later various kinds of viennese bread became popular in France, the so called viennoiseries.



Thanks Wiki.

Bordeaux blue (2)

I promised pictures of the fine Mollat bookshop and its fine window displays, painted in correct Bordeaux blue.



Philosopy department.



You can find these shops as you walk from Gambetta square, under the Dijeaux gate, into the Rue de la Porte Dijeaux, at the left side. Also turn left into Rue Vital-Carles (where tramway).



Reading room.



Presentation of a book on wine.

Bordeaux coat-of-arms

Porte Dijeaux, Dijeaux gate.

I can hardly call this tourist information because I want to be informed myself.



Cathedral.

Can anyone explain the history of the Bordeaux coal-of-arms?
Tried Google a lot, cant find anything.



Town hall.

There is another question too.



This is a kind of symbol for bordeaux. But what is the meaning?

Tourist information: Bordeaux blue

Everybody knows Bordeaux red but what you actually see in the streets is much Bordeaux blue.



It is used a lot on doors as you can see from the three photographs below these lines, and where you can also see variations in the color (the photograph above these lines showe the true Bordeaux blue).







The door knockers contrast very nicely with the Bordeaux blue.







It is also used on iron work,



on shutters,



and on carved wood panels.





The famous Mollat book stores (see next day) are also painted in Bordeaux blue.