City Photos News France/Millau

City of Millau

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:57:49 +0000

Millau, town (pop. 22,500), Aveyron department of South France, on the Tarn River. The center of the French glove industry, the town also has tanning and dyeing industries. Near Millau the Tarn is crossed by the world's highest road bridge (1,125 ft/343 m high, 8,071 ft/2,460 m long), the cable-stayed, multispan, steel Millau Viaduct, designed by Lord Norman Foster and completed in 2004. At the nearby village of Roquefort, the famous cheese is manufactured from sheep's milk. Millau was a Huguenot stronghold in the 16th century. Points of interest include Gallo-Roman ruins, a 16th-century church, and a belfry (partly from the 11th cent.)..
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Round window

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:49:01 +0000

Round window.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Colours of tiles

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:48:56 +0000

Colours of tiles.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Wall Mural

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:28:44 +0000

Wall Mural.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Wall mural blends with old stones

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:28:34 +0000

Wall mural blends with old stones.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Locals: A man with a cat on his shoulder

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:24:12 +0000

Locals: A man with a cat on his shoulder.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Little square in front of museum

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:19:35 +0000

Little square in front of museum.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Millau Museum

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:05:27 +0000

The Museum of Millau, in an 18th-century mansion, www.ot-millau.fr , contains exhibits on glove making, Roman pottery, local geology and prehistory. Museum has a vast collection illustrating just how ubiquitous the pottery was: the stamps of 600 pottery makers have been found on the pieces here. Another section of the museum is dedicated to the history and craft of glove-making. Until the late 1960's, Millau was the French capital for the manufacture of luxury kid gloves, producing four million pairs a year. Now, only a few glove-makers remain, turning out about 300,000 pairs annually. Some staff members speak halting English, and they share wonderful details about the gloves: that some were so slim-fitting and had so many buttons they required two hours and special talcum powder to put on; that Catherine de Medici murdered one of her enemies by infusing her gloves with poison and diamond powder; that decades ago lambskin for gloves was softened in a mixture of dog or bird excrement. The Grands Causses and their surroundings bear a wealth of fossils and Millau Museum offers a complete collection of these. Earth from the end of the Primary Age has surrendered a great variety of footprints of reptiles and amphibians. The sediments of the Jurassic Age sea have revealed dinosaur footprints and numerous fossils : ammonites, nautilus, belemnites, fish, ichtyosaurus. It is in these same layers of earth that the first complete elasmosaurus to be discovered in France was found. This marine reptile, 180 million years old, was found at Tournemire, near Roquefort (Aveyron). 4 meters long, it has a flat head, a long snake-like neck and the body of a large fish or sea-mammal, with feet like flippers. During the Quartenary period, 2 million years ago, in the valleys that were being formed, limestone deposits fossilised the remains of plants. Open year round; daily May through September, otherwise closed Sunday. Hours vary, depending on the month. Admission: 6 euro; under 18 free..
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Small mordern fountain

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:45:30 +0000

Small mordern fountain.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

A modern building incorporates features of old architecture

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:18:49 +0000

A modern building incorporates features of old architecture.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Door's detail

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:18:35 +0000

Door's detail.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Cathedral in the city centre

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:26:29 +0000

Cathedral in the city centre.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Streets of Millau

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:26:24 +0000

Most of the shops are closed on Sunday.
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Beffroi, 12th century Tower

Wed, 9 Apr 2008 03:23:14 +0000

The square tower, which serves as the basis for the current tower was built in the eleventh century to serve as a dungeon in the castle Counts of Millau. It was then the edge of the city. In the thirteenth century, the tower has been sold to individuals, then the town bought in the August 1613 for 4,000 pounds, with a view to raising a belfry for the watchtower. The construction of the octagonal tower then started, which was then topped with an arrow bearing the summit to nearly 50 metres. On July 29, 1811, lightning felled the boom, which was replaced by the current terrace. Classified as a historical monument..
Millau, France, photo by Inga.

Beffroi de Millau

Wed, 9 Apr 2008 03:11:08 +0000

Formerly a watchtower and symbol of seigniorial power, the Belfry of Millau consists of two architecturally distinct parts. The square tower was built in the 12th century and is the biggest square keep in the Rouergue (the former province now called the Aveyron). The octagonal tower was constructed by order of the town council between 1614 and 1617 in order to house the town's bell and clock. The Tower's bottom part served as a prison of the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century, especially during the revolutionary period. This remarkable monument shows a particularly high quality of construction and a very refined internal layout: keep, guardroom, ceremonial room. The belfry is the emblem of the town. Constructed on the site of the primitive castle of the Counts of Millau, it testifies to the rich historical and architectural heritage of the town..
Millau, France, photo by Inga.