The museum |
Assorted recovered and reconstructed weaponry of the period |
Detail of a model of a Frankish village |
One of the larger Merovingen huts. |
A smaller hut. |
We spent about twenty minutes checking out the buildings, with James (my son) taking copious photos (since he'd just discovered how much fun my DSLR is) - most of the shots in this article are his. We were, it has to be said, pretty blown away by the workmanship.
And then we double-checked the French handout we'd been given, and realised that this wasn't, as we'd thought, the larger of the two historical reconstruction areas, but the smaller. By quite a long way.
One of the main farm buildings. This was unusual in having a non- period interior, being set with wooden chairs and tables, evidently for talks. |
Across a small stretch of field and behind a hedge and wall, we came to the other reconstructed area.
A Frankish farm.
Twenty freaking buildings worth of Frankish farm!
A smaller house, showing the wattle and daub construction. |
Again, based on archaeological findings, and painstakingly reconstructed down to the smallest detail (I was particularly taken with the various almost casual arrangements of animal bones in places where they might realistically have been dumped).
The bit that made me smile (and instruct James to take several photos of) was a display of naturally dyed wool, hanging both inside and out of one of the buildings. If like me, you struggle to be sure that your Dark Ages armies are painted in convincing colours, then you might find the following images rather useful.
So. There you have it. I strongly recommend a visit, but do take a dictionary, a good camera, and someone who speaks decent French.
Looking nice! I didn't know it...and I'm french!
ReplyDeleteExcellent photos, quite useful for my Dux project. Thanks very much for posting
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, Mike. Hope you had a great holiday
ReplyDelete