Another kind of street jewellery

[shewhomust]

Andrew Morley claims to have invented the expression Street Jewellery, to describe those wonderful enamelled iron advertising signs which used to decorate the streets (and whose miniature reproductions now decorate our refridgerators). But the streets have more than one kind of adornment - and in France there is a wealth of decorative ironwork in the gates and railings, balconies and door-panels. The town of Saint-Dizier, in the Haute Marne, is particularly rich in this sort of jewellery, because it was a foundry town, specialising in decorative cast iron - and because in the early twentieth century, the foundry went into partnership with the architect Hector Guimard to put his designs into production. Guimard is best known as the designer of entrances to Paris's metro stations - but there are some wonderful pictures of his other work on the Cercle Guimard's web site, if you have the patience to work through the site (clue: it's no good clicking the word "English", it isn't a link...).

Saint Dizier has a very enterprising tourist office, who have put together a booklet of themed walks (the historic heart of the town, a walk along the canal) including two walks spotlighting the gems of the collection. It's an unusually small scale form of tourism, walking down residential streets looking out for the panels in the door of number 39, the balcony at number 30, the railings across the window at number 21. Next year the museum will reopen, and there will be more formal touristing to be done, for for the time being, we enjoyed drifting through the streets with a clear conscience.

Other attractions of Saint Dizier include the Miko ice cream factory which has been concerted into a cinema, and the coin in the slot pizza machine (offering those classic pizza variations raclette, tartiflette and alsacienne).

Comments

[hunningham.livejournal.com]

These are a delight. I remember years and years ago walking around Prague and photographing wrought iron, much to the mystification and puzzlement of the people I was with.

[anef.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of small scale tourism. There's so much that you miss otherwise.

Finally catching up...

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'd never seen a coin-operated pizza machine before.

Re: Finally catching up...

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Me neither!