August 6: I have had the good fortune to see many cathedrals, forts, castles and chateaux on my visits to Europe. Many times, these are the most memorable highlights of the trip. It’s almost mandatory to visit a new city and visit the cathedral. Visit Paris, see Notre Dame.
So this is Notre Dame de Strasbourg. Some would say it is among the finest examples of high Gothic design, and I spent a very long time, along with dozens of others, admiring its’ beauty. I’ve seen a good number of cathedrals over the years, but this one is truly remarkable. The reddish stone is distinctive, but what really stood out for me was the feeling of “lightness” the façades convey. The columns and statues create a sense of openness and delicacy that make the whole building seem less ponderous than most of the other cathedrals I’ve seen. The astounding thing for me is that each of those statues and columns is solid stone and a product of human hands, a hammer, and a chisel. No wonder it took more than 400 hundred years to build.
This is Le Fort de Tournoux which I discovered just east of Barcelonnette. It’s absolutely unexpected and spectacular. Constructed over a 40-year period and completed in 1863, it was built in 4 stages which rise 700 metres up a rocky spur in the L’Ubaye valley. It was intended to guard against the incursions of those sneaky Italians from the south through the Col de Larche and the Col de Vars. It last saw action during the Second World War, was occupied by the German army during 1944, and was recaptured by the French in 1945. It was decommissioned in 1948.
These are both magnificent buildings in their own way. Both represent the culmination of decades of planning and work to achieve a specific purpose. Notre Dame is awe-inspiring because, in its’ day, it was intended to remind peasants of the power and authority of the church over their lives. The Fort was built at a time of increasing paranoia over military invasion by men on horse-back. In spite of the significance for those who built them, the context changed and even though they are both spectacular and worth visiting in their own right, they are now little more than artifacts from a time long past.
http://www.ubaye.com/le-fort-de-tournoux.html