Le Havre, one of Europe's greatest seaports, is located at the mouth of the Seine river, on the English Channel, about 100 miles northwest of Paris. The port city's old "downtown" or city center was basically wiped out (pratiquement rasé is what my French-language Michelin Guide says) in 1944. The population of Le Havre in 1936 was 164,000, and in 1946 it was 107,000. Starting in '46, a new and very modern city center was built to replace the old one. A lot of people turn up their noses when it is mentioned, but I had spent a school year in Rouen, just downriver, in 1972-73, without ever going to Le Havre. I had wondered for years what it was like.
In 2003, when Walt and I arrived in France, we spent a few days in Rouen before driving down to Saint-Aignan to take possession of our new house. We spent a beautiful summer afternoon in Le Havre during that short stay in Normandy. Walt has a degree in architecture and another in urban planning (both from Berkeley), and he really wanted to see it. And you know me, I want to see everything in France at least once in my life. Here are some of my photos.
I happen have a copy of the Michelin Guide for Normandy in my collection of books. It's the English-language edition (long story), so I can just quote it. It says that Le Havre's ville moderne is "a remarkable example of large-scale reconstruction and successful urban planning... A remarkable architectural unity has been achieved: a balance between volumes and spaces. The centre offers wide perspectives, the horizontal lines of the vast living units contrast with tall tower blocks. The impressive town hall and St. Joseph's church [both rebuilt after the war] pierce the sky."
One of my memories of Le Havre is not mine at all, really. In the late '90s, my mother, my niece, and I went to Rouen and spent a few days with friends there. I had known these friends, Jeanine and Henri, for many years. One of the things we did during our stay was drive over to the Omaha Beach military cemetery at Colleville, near Bayeux. It was a very emotional experience, especially for Henri and my mother, who both had vivid memories of World War II. My mother had lost several childhood friends and classmates to the war. She turned 15 in 1945.
One of my memories of Le Havre is not mine at all, really. In the late '90s, my mother, my niece, and I went to Rouen and spent a few days with friends there. I had known these friends, Jeanine and Henri, for many years. One of the things we did during our stay was drive over to the Omaha Beach military cemetery at Colleville, near Bayeux. It was a very emotional experience, especially for Henri and my mother, who both had vivid memories of World War II. My mother had lost several childhood friends and classmates to the war. She turned 15 in 1945.
While we walked around in the cemetery, Henri talked about his war experiences. He said he had been a member of a group of Free French soldiers who accompanied General de Gaulle to London during the war. Le Havre was liberated in 1944, when he was about 25 years old, and his unit returned to France by boat, docking at what little was left of the port at Le Havre. They marched through the streets of the devastated city. Virtually everything was destroyed, he said, but people emerged from their basements, where they had taken shelter and set up living quarters during the bombardments, bearing gifts of food for the troops they saw as their liberators. Henri had tears in his eyes and choked back sobs as he described the generosity of those people and their gifts.
I went to the American cemetery at Colleville with Frank and my old friend, Mary. As you said, it was very emotional.
ReplyDeleteAs for Le Havre, the Péret’s architecture shows a complete lack of originality!
L’ennui, dit-on, naquit un jour de l’uniformité, Houdar de la Motte.
As I keep telling you, CHM, there is no accounting for taste. Yours isn't better than anybody else's. You end up intimidating people who might think you are an authority. That's my opinion, and I say it as a friend.
DeleteI just looked up Houdar de la Motte, since you have quoted him twice. He was on the side of the modernes in the quarrel between the anciens et les modernes. I don't think you would have been on that side.
DeleteYes, I see what you mean. Tous les goûts sont dans la nature. Unfortunately, I am an authority on nothing at all, I just tell the impression I have of things. People are free to take it or leave it. If you don’t tell what you think, there is no discourse possible.
DeleteYou might be surprised!
DeleteHa! I never knew that expression, Tous les goûts sont dans la nature
DeleteMon ami CHM, even though I've known you for nearly 40 years, you are a mystery wrapped in an enigma. You probably don't realize that as a Frenchman who's nearly a century old, you give out absolutely dismissive opinions that people who don't know France the way you do, or you the way I do, might take as the letter of the law, whether they are or are not. People probably think you are always right, especially since you are so determinedly opiniated. Whether you approve of modern Le Havre, or the Pompidou Center, or the evolution of the French language, or carrots in the sauerkraut or blanquette de veauy... well, it doesn't really matter. Better to convince people than to challenge them, disapprove of them, or attempt to intimidate them.
DeleteAll military and political leaders should visit those cemeteries. I took a ferry from LeHarve to Portsmouth one time, I had a delightful lunch on the waterfront waiting for the ferry.
ReplyDeleteWith trepidation, and humble sincerity, I'll wade into the modern architecture discussion. Like everything else there is variations in quality and concept and opinion. Le Havre's modern buildings are just OK cosmetically. I still very much enjoyed seeing them here, because I never would have otherwise. Mies van der Rohe's Seagram's Building, Oscar Niemeyer's design for Brasilia, and the High Line in NYC are examples of very fine architecture or urban planning, imo.
ReplyDeleteTo me, it doesn't matter whether or not somebody likes the architecture of modern Le Havre. The fact is, it exists. If it were as awful as some people seem to think, the good citizens of Le Havre would rise up and do something about it. It's a little arrogant to set oneself up as THE arbiter of good taste, I think. I wouldn't judge the place if I had never been there. But I'm not sure anybody really wants my opinion about it.
DeleteI went to the American Cemetery in Colleville a few years ago, with a French friend. It was very moving.
ReplyDeleteAnd I found that in that part of Normandy just a mention that one had relatives in Northern France in 1944 brought out all sorts of thanks and kind words and deeds.
I remember that kind of positive reaction from back in the 1970s, when I lived in Rouen and traveled some around Normandy over toward Bayeux and the Mont Saint-Michel. It was obvious how happy people were to meet Americans.
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