Thursday 20 December 2012

Graffiti or Sculpture?

 The local tuffeau stone is so soft, it is inevitable that centuries old buildings are covered in graffiti. Some of the most remarkable is to be found in the Guardroom attached to the Louis XI Tower on the citadel in Loches.

Created by Protestant troops stationed here during the Wars of Religion (16th century) these are more bas relief sculpture than graffiti.  A frieze of lifesize characters stretches around two walls, all soldiers in different poses, with weapons and some detail of costume and facial features.

2 comments:

Tim said...

Wow! I love the Christmas Header!!

That room in the Guardroom is superb... as is the magnificent commentary and lightshow that goes with it. I have now watched it twice [in three visits - first one was too crowded] and saw new things the second time.

Susan said...

Tim: the commentary is great, although probably too long for most people's attention span. It's a great idea to combine it with spotlights that move from figure to figure as they are discussed, but it does mean you have to visit when it is not crowded -- not hard at Loches fortunately.

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