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The leaves have mostly fallen from the vines. Here and there small bunches of grapes, unripe at harvest time, remain. Sweet now but abandoned, they are the remnants of the pinots—noirs and meuniers—fermenting in vats of Olivier Belin’s champagne installation outside Chateau-Thierry, 55 miles east of Paris in the Marne Valley.

Further up the valley, the river flows into the heart of the champagne-growing area, past the town of Epernay and the Mountain of Reims. That’s the area that most travelers think of when considering a champagne wine excursion. Belin’s vineyards don’t lie within the border of the historic Champagne region, rather in historic Picardy, but the appellation for the world’s most evocative sparkling wine extends beyond the historic borders.

The western portion of the Marne Valley is primarily pinot meunier territory, the lesser known of the three major grapes of the overall champagne winegrowing zone. Meunier represents about one third of the wine that is assembled in various proportions into making champagne. It is often described as the workhorse grape, pulling the plow to add body for the more refined chardonnay (30% of the growing area) and the more noble and familiar pinot, noir (38% of the growing area). To hear some producers in the Reims-Epernay area speak of pinot meunier you’d think that they were embarrass to be pressing it at all, though press it they do. Given little respect as a grape on its own, meunier is the Rodney Dangerfield of champagne grapes.

Yet in this portion of the Marne Valley, within 10 miles east and southwest of the town of Chateau-Thierry, where 70% of the vines are pinot meunier, meunier holds its head high. Rather, its growers hold their heads high. Among them are the 40 grower-producers that form an association of Marne Valley winegrowers called the Association des Ambassadeurs du Terroir et du Tourisme en Vallée de la Marne, of which Belin is co-president.

“We are artisan winegrowers,” says Belin. “But that doesn’t mean that we’re tinkerers. Our cellars aren’t necessarily beautiful but it’s the work of the winegrower that one visits here.”

Indeed, this not zone of the sprawling chalk cellars, some of them medieval, even Roman quarries, as one can visit in the city of Reims. This is not the zone of vast underground installations as found in Epernay. This is not a zone of grand cru and premier cru vineyards. For the few (if growing number of) American visitors to this portion of the Marne Valley, the Chateau-Thierry area is less known for champagne than for the WWI battleground of Belleau Wood and the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery beside it. A tremendous American Monument overlooks the point in the valley where the German thrust of 1918 was stopped. The monument also overlooks a slope of champagne vineyard. So a taste of champagne or a deeper initiation into sparkling wine can be combined with war touring in the area.

Fact and figures about Champagne production and consumption

For the American consumer, selecting a champagne comes down to considering the labels of four or five brands, perhaps a few more at your more Francophile wine shop. Yet the champagne winegrowing region is home to 15,800 grape growers and 12,000 brand names. Only a handful of brands, those with large advertising budgets, reach most states of the union, though over the past decade medium and small houses and grower-producers have slowly been making their way into major markets.

More than half (52%) of all champagne is consumed in France. That doesn’t mean that the French are more festive than others, rather that champagne isn’t reserved for festivity in France but also serves as an aperitif at many gatherings, both casual and formal, social and festive. While bottles are available in a wide price range, there are plenty of worthy champagne available at under 30€, including a significant direct producer-to-consumer market offering good value bubbly for under 20€, as is the case of many of the champagne produced in the Marne Valley.

Even in France Marne Valley champagne is little known. Most people are unaware that the growing area extend this close to Paris, this close to brie cheese territory. Nevertheless, some of the grapes from these vineyards go into well-known labels. Belin, for example, sells a portion of his harvest to négotiants manupulants who buys grapes, juice or wine to make champagne on their own premises that they then market under their own label. All of the major champagne houses work that way. They may own some vineyards but need far more grapes than their own can provide.

Belin himself is a récoltant manipulant or grower-producer, meaning that he makes champagne on his own premises from the grapes of his own vineyards and under his own label.

The third major type of player in the wine business is the cooperatives, which produce champagne collectively, then sell them under a collective or individual label. There exist in the growing region 320 champagne houses and 39 cooperatives along with an astounding 4461 grower-producers, according to the Comité Champagne, the champagne trade association.

Last year, the U.S. ranked second in champagne’s export market (20.5 million bottles) after the U.K. (34.2 million) and before Germany and Japan (just under 12 million). Meanwhile, there are currently about 1.4 billion bottles in storage in the region.

Those are impressive numbers, but the most telling indicator of the difference between the French and the export markets is that in France 43% of champagnes bottles sold are produced by grower-producers or cooperatives whereas in the export market only 13% comes from those players. In other words, you’ll likely need to travel to discover them.

Champagne Gérard et Olivier Belin

As is often the case with small producers, Belin’s father and grandfather were grape farmers, selling their crop to others. His father, Gérard, then began selling champagne through a cooperative before producing champagne from his own grapes, under his own name. Having trained as an oenologist, Olivier began making wine with his father in 1997: tending the vines, harvesting and pressing, assembling wines, dosing sugar. He took firm hold on the reins of the business about five years ago while he continues to consult his father for his opinion whether in his vineyards or in the cellar. The label of Champagne Belin indicates both names. Olivier’s wife Katty is also involved in the family business.

Olivier Belin’s grandparents owned four hectares (just under 10 acres), to which his parents added two more. Belin now produces about 40,000 bottles per year, 60% of which he sells directly to consumers. The average grower-producer in the area makes about 20,000 bottles per year. Altogether the association’s members produce about one million bottles per year. That’s a drop in the champagne bucket consider that 310 million bottles were sold in 2015 for the entire winegrowing region. (Overall, Marne Valley vineyards represent about 10% of the overall champagne vineyard zone.).

With a hectare of champagne-grape vineyard now selling for 1-1.2 million euros, grape growers may be sitting on a gold mine, but it isn’t land wealth that one encounters in the area, rather the work and passion of these grower-producers.

To visit Belin’s installations and taste his sparkling wines in his little tasting room is to glimpse the passion of an artisan involved in his product from start to finish and from tradition to renewal. It’s the opportunity to understand the choices that winegrowers make in producing their product range. Belin, for example, appreciates the use of some oak barrel aging in his assembly. The men and women in the winegrowers association that Belin co-presides may not be tinkerers, but in encountering several of them it becomes clear that they enjoy the occasional risk of the fiddling with their grape juice, such as to create “micro-cuvées” of only a few thousand bottles.

Belin’s champagnes and those of many other winegrowers in the Marne Valley are proof that proper champagnes for celebration or for a friendly aperitif can be found for under 22€. However, it isn’t so much the price of champagne that makes visiting these local worthwhile (though Paris residents might want to take the opportunity to stock up) but the opportunity to discover the humanity behind the production of a world’s most famous sparkling wine.

Furthermore, there’s a fascinating diversity of champagnes produced in the Marne Valley, within their natural reliance on pinot meunier. On a daytrip from Paris—and certainly one can stay longer—the wise wine traveler will visit two or three winegrowers over the course of the day or the afternoon (if combined with war touring) to appreciate the diversity of approaches in the area.

Champagne Marteaux

A bench on the hill above the village of Azy-sur-Marne, four miles southwest of Chateau-Thierry, offers a view of the amphitheater of fields surrounding the village. This one of the prettiest views in the valley, though few come this way. It isn’t the view that might lead a traveler here so much as a visit to winegrower Olivier Marteaux.

Previously, polyculture was a way of in the area; farming meant wheat, corn and beets. Those crops are still grown in the area but vineyards is what one most notices when driving through the valley.

Olivier Marteaux’s ancestors were polyculture farmers until the 1950s. His grandfather then developed a wine nursery, selling young vines to grape farmers. In the 1980s the family began keeping their vines so as to grow grapes themselves. They made champagne with the local cooperative before eventually using their grapes exclusively for their own production. With 9 hectares (22.2 acres) of vines—65% pinot meunier, 20% chardonnay, 15% pinot noir—Marteaux currently produces 40-50,000 bottles per year.

Marteaux concocts what might be called connoisseur’s champagnes in the sense that they provide a deep, rich taste of terroir that one doesn’t always associated with bubbly. His vintages have been aged for at least six years prior to disgorgement and typically have low sugar content, such as the 2008 extra brut with 2 grams of sugar for a wine that’s 60% pinot meunier, 20% chardonnay and 20% pinot noir.

Among his four types of champagne he makes a rose de saignée, 100% pinot noir from a single parcel. Its tart fruitiness of Marteaux’s rose may not reflect what we’re accustomed to a rose champagne, but it is a taste that will give the wine-curious traveler a sense of the variety available in champagne wines in general and in the Marne Valley’s in particular. A 100% pinot noir champagne is a rarity in these parts and it’s interesting to compare Marteaux’s rose with Belin’s rosé de saignée, which is 100% pinot meunier.

Saignée is the more erudite way of producing rose since it requires precise pressing in order to obtain the proper color from the skin. In champagne production the preferred and allowed method for making rose is by adding red still wine (from pinot meunier or pinot noir) in assembling the wine so as to adjust the color along with the taste. Belin also makes a rosé d’assemblage. More than 90% of rose champagne gets its color that way.

Marteaux’s wife Laetitia if fully involved in the business, just as is Katty Belin is involved in the Belin family business. These are truly family affairs, which is the case of the vast majority of members of the local winegrowing association.

The Champagne et Vous wine festival

A great opportunity to meet producers on an easy daytrip from Paris is at the annual wine festival Champagne et Vous (Champagne and You) organized by the Marne Valley winegrowers association. The weekend festival takes place in late October in Chateau-Thierry on the site of the ruins of Thierry’s chateau. It’s a largely local event that invites the area’s population to understand the role of winemaking in the local economy and affirm the place of these grower-producers in the champagne-making landscape.

See Champagne et Vous for further information about the festival including portraits and addresses of participating winegrowers.

Addresses and further information

Champagne Gérard et Olivier Belin
30A Aulnois
02400 Essômes-sur-Marne
Tel. 03 23 70 88 43

Champagne Marteaux
6 Route de Bonneil, 02400 Azy-sur-Marne
Tel. 03 23 82 92 47

The Chateau-Thierry Tourist Office, situated near the House of France-America Friendship (see this article) can help those travelers who arrive with any prior appointments but would like to make last-minute arrangements to visit Marne Valley winegrowers.

For further information about war touring and other sights in the area, also see this article on France Revisited.

A B&B and lunch suggestion: Chateau de la Marjolaine
Two miles southwest of Chateau-Thierry, Jean-Pierre and Bruno have transformed this manor house by the river into an attractive B&B, restaurant and champagne bar.
27 Hameau d’Aulnois
02400 Essômes sur Marne
Tel. 03 23 69 77 80 or 06 60 39 98 79

© 2016, Gary Lee Kraut

The post Wine Travel: Respect for Pinot Meunier in Marne Valley Champagnes appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Château-Thierry, 55 miles east of Paris along the Marne River, benefited from the dedication of Reverend Julian Wadsworth, delegate of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his wife in their efforts to honor the memory of fallen soldiers while assisting residents of Château-Thierry and the surrounding villages.

This is an area where American forces played a significant role along with our British and particularly French allies beginning in the spring of 1918 in countering the final major German offensives and pushing them back and to eventual surrender and signature of the armistice of November 11, 1918. The following October, the Wadsworths purchased the shell-ridden Hôtel de l’Elephant in Château-Thierry in order to create what Julian Wadsworth would refer to as “a war memorial” and “a community house of friendliness.”

Known as the Maison de l’Amitié Franco-Américaine (MAFA), the House of French-American Friendship, it provided day care and nursing services, a free circulating library and reading room, a war museum, tech instruction in the use of wireless telegraph and radio-telephone, the organization of Boy Scouts and Camp-fire girls and a social club for girls, while also supporting cultural exchanges and events in English and in French.

The MAFA “afford[ed] an ideal opportunity for closer acquaintance and the making of abiding friendship between the American, English and French peoples,” according to a pamphlet produced under the direction of Wadsworth in 1925. Entitled “A War Memorial: A Community House of Friendliness,” the pamphlet explains:

“Already the French Government had asked the Methodists to aid with relief for the refugees who were returning to the devastated homes. Thirty-two villages were assigned to them. It was while thinking of the aid which the Board of Foreign Missions in New York had offered for the devastated areas of France that the thought came of enlarging this temporary material assistance and making a more enduring monument which would a Memorial worthy of the soldiers whose graves are in France. The gift of the Methodist Episcopal Church to Château-Thierry should be more than a passing gift of material relief. It should be an enduring monument of happiness, built out of the desolation of war. It must be a loving service for those who are still living in the war-scarred villages of the Valley of the Marne.” (The full text of that brochure can be found here.)

In 1930 the Wadsworths donated the MAFA to the city. While it continued its vocations for decades, its increasingly dilapidated state led it to being closed in 2000.

This year, on the eve of its November 11 Armistice Day / Remembrance Day / Veterans Day commemorations, the town of Château-Thierry inaugurated a new building on the same location, now calling it Maison de l’Amitié France-Amerique (translated on the plaque by its entrance as the House of France-American Friendship). The square out front had long been re-baptized Place des Etats-Unis (Square of the United States).

While the new building doesn’t as actively serve the lofty goals of the Wadsworths’ original project of the 1920s, it nevertheless reaffirms Château-Thierry’s with the United States.

The inaugural ceremony was led by U.S. Ambassador to France Jane D. Hartley and Mayor of Château-Thierry Jacques Krabal, accompanied by local and regional dignitaries in the presence of about 200 Castelthéodoriciens, as citizens of the town are called.

Rather than recount the history of the war or the American involvement in 1918 in the Third Battle of the Aisne, the Battle of Château-Thierry and the Second Battle of the Marne, the MAFA houses on its second floor an exhibition focusing on the life and death of Quentin Roosevelt. Son of Theodore Roosevelt and his second wife Edith, Quentin was shot down by German planes at the age of 20 during aerial combat over France on July 14, 1918, 17 miles northeast of here.

Quentin and his brothers Ted Jr., Archie and Kermit all served in WWI. Quentin was originally buried by the German army in the village of Chamery, where his plane crashed. In 1955 his remains were removed to the Normandy American Cemetery, to be re-laid to rest beside those of Ted Jr., who fought in WWII. The oldest American soldier and highest ranking officer to land by sea in Normandy (Utah Beach) on D-Day June 6, 1944, Ted Jr. who died of a heart attack five weeks into the invasion.

For more about Quentin Roosevelt, read Quentin Roosevelt: The Most Famous American Killed in France in WWI.

The ground floor of the new MAFA is occupied by the Château-Thierry Tourist Office. For visitors who need logistical assistance or who arrive without firm plans for their day, it’s a good first place to stop in order to obtain information about war touring in the surrounding region. For more about sights and memorials related to the American involvement in WWI, including Belleau Wood, the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, and the American Monument of Château Thierry see this photolog.

Happily, war touring in these parts can also go hand in hand with wine touring—and not just any wine but champagne. Though Château-Thierry is located in the administrative region of Picardy and the department of Aisne, 16 miles from the border of the Champagne region (actually called Champagne-Ardenne), its surroundings lie within the champagne appellation.

As indicated above the entrance to the MAFA, the Chateau-Thierry area represents “the gates to champagne.” The tourist office is therefore well armed to advise visitors on how and where to visit champagne producers within a 20-minute drive east or west along the Marne, and they can call ahead to make last-minute appointments with grower-producers. (An article about champagne producers of this portion of the Marne Valley is coming soon.)

Finally, in keeping with the MAFA’s historical role as a center for cultural exchanges and learning, there is a space for temporary exhibitions and a room where children can come to learn English.

The MAFA is not a destination in itself, but the starting point for further explorations in this once war-torn, still champagne-filled stretch of the Marne River.

With time and interest, one might take a stroll to see the admirable facades of the theater, city hall and food market on the town’s central square and to look up towards the ramparts of the chateau occupied over 1000 years ago by a certain King Thierry IV before the Counts of Champagne took control of the region. Some medieval ruins still remain behind the ramparts.

The town’s major historical sight, involving neither champagne nor war, is its Hôtel Dieu, the former central hospital with a rich collection of works received during its centuries as a religious institution. There’s also a museum dedicated to 17th-century fable writer Jean de La Fontaine.

For outdoor entertainment, an enjoyable, family-friendly birds of prey show takes place April-September beside the chateau ruins, where, among others, a North American bald eagle takes flight.

Maison de l’Amitié France-Amérique / Château-Thierry Tourist Office, 2 place des Etats-Unis, 02400 Château-Thierry. Tel. 03 23 83 51 14.

© 2015, Gary Lee Kraut

The post Château-Thierry Reaffirms Its Bond with the United States appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working, if such be called work, on France Revisited’s Pastry Issue, which involves tasting cupcakes, trying the new blackcurrant-flavored mont blanc made in honor of the 110th anniversary of the venerable tea room Angelina, and meeting several bakers.

Thinking about war tourism and commemorative travel on the one hand and about pastry tourism and yummy travels on the other may sound a bit schizophrenic, but tourism and travel present us with the wonderful challenge of enjoying the ridiculous within the sublime, the sublime within the solemn, the contemporary within the historical, the economics within the culture, and vice versa. And anyway you’ve got to eat and drink along the way, so why not enjoy.

Actually, juggling thoughts of sweets and war it isn’t so schizophrenic after all since they led me to ANZAC biscuits, which are well known to Australians and New Zealanders but new to me.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC biscuits are oatmeal biscuits that were sent to soldier from down under during the Great War.

I brought back a pack of ANZAC biscuits from my visit to Picardy last week and opened it today to raise a morning toast, so to speak, to veterans and fallen soldiers (and to share with a Brazilian neighbor). The Australian War Memorial provides a recipe. They were better than I expected—quite good company with tea (as is the Brazilian neighbor and her dog)—nothing I’d dive into a trench for but a nice bite of history on Veterans/Remembrance/Armistice Day. The AWM site notes that early recipes for the biscuits didn’t include coconut. You’ll also see there a recipe for ANZAC tiles or wafers, a long shelf-life substitute for bread that was also shipped to soldiers.

Those visiting northern France may find them in bakeries and shops frequented by tourists near WWI sites and museums, possibly alongside poppy-flavored goods, such as poppy-flavored jelly and syrup. Though those aren’t wartime products (and in any case are mostly sugar), they recall the significance of the poppy (le coquelicot) as a symbol of the fallen of nations of the British Empire/Commonwealth ever since the publication in 1915 of John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” (1915): “In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row…” The poppy’s significance stems from its being the only plant that grew in the traumatized soil of the battlefields of France and Belgium.

At least that’s how the British saw it. The French also noticed the cornflowers (les bleuets). Bleuet was also the nickname given to the young soldiers who arrived after the start of the war in new blue uniforms. (The old uniforms, still worn at the start of the war but too flashy for a modern battlefield, had red pants.) Thus, President Hollande wore a cornflower on his lapel today as he laid a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe, site of France’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

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For general tourist information about touring WWI sites, museums and monuments in the department of Somme, see the official Somme tourist site.

© 2013, Gary Lee Kraut

The post ANZAC Biscuits, a Memorial Taste of War from the Battlefields of the Somme appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

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Notre-Dame de Reims

The Gothic cathedrals of Europe were very much the skyscrapers of their time both for their reach to the sky and their intent to demonstrate the stature of the cities and of the bishoprics (a Roman Catholic cathedral refers to the church that is the seat of the bishop) in which they were built.

In 469 Clovis, King of the Franks, was baptized in Reims by Bishop-cum-Saint Remi. That fundamental consecration of the marriage of Church and King in France, is shown on the façade of Notre-Dame de Reims as it is in many other cathedrals in France. (The marriage was formally dissolved during the French Revolution. There were attempts at national therapy to patch things up in the 19th century, but for over a hundred years now the marriage has been declared over, with the separation of assets clearly identified by the law of 1905.)

In memory of the baptism of Clovis, it became firm tradition as of the 9th century that a king of France should come to Reims, 80 miles northeast of Paris, to confirm his divinely-inspired power over his kingdom and the Church’s intimate role in that power. That confirmation required anointing by a holy ointment kept in a holy vial. By the time this Notre-Dame was begun, in 1211, the construction of a cathedral in keeping with Reims’s stature and role as the site of royal unction was long overdue.

Since the coronation of Louis VIII in 1223, all but three of the French kings were crowned in this cathedral. Those three are: Louis VI, who received unction in Orleans in 1108 because he felt it would be dangers to travel to Reims; Henri IV, who was crowned in Chartres in 1594 because Reims was in the hand of his enemies; Louis XVIII, who returned from exile in England to become king in 1814 and for whom no coronation ceremony was held in France.)

The historical events surrounding the 1429 coronation of Charles VII in the presence of Joan of Arc, who’d heard voices telling her that that the king must quit cowering in the Loire Valley and assume his god-given role in France, is celebrated each year in Reims over the first weekend of June in an annual Joan festival called les Fêtes Johanniques. The major event of the weekend is the Sunday afternoon reenactment of the procession to the cathedral from Saint Remi Basilica, Reims’ other important and impressive architectural monument.

Visitors arriving by car will find that the frontal approach leading to Rue Rockefeller and then the vast square in front of the cathedral is regal indeed. American industrialist John D. Rockefeller got the honors of a street named after him in thanks for the enormous funding he provided in the 1920s to rebuild the cathedral which had been heavily damaged by bombardment during WWI. (Another sizable donation by the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie allowed for the construction of the beautiful Art Deco public library that’s near the cathedral.)

There are lots of 20th-century windows here because of war damage, including the bright blue windows that draws your gaze the far end of the cathedral when you first enter were created by Marc Chagall in 1974.

Unlike Chartres, where the cathedral is the destination, Notre-Dame de Reims often plays second fiddle to the town’s main attraction: its champagne houses. After all, Reims along with Epernay, 18 miles south, are the main centers for champagne production, with many small producers nearby along the slopes between the two towns. Millions of bottles lie fermenting in tunnels north and east of the cathedral. Those bottles will eventually see the light of day—or night—dressed in the labels of Taittinger, Pommery, Mumm, Ruinart, Veuve-Cliquot, and other champagne houses.

There’s no escaping the influence of bubbly in Reims, even in the cathedral, where a series of stained glass windows donated by the region’s winemakers show it being made as though a scene from a regional bible.

But the most joyful symbol of the marriage of Church and champagne is the smiling angel on the façade of the cathedral that has come to represent the city itself. It wasn’t created with sparkling wine in mind, yet no visitor now admires the angel without associating the two.

Like Chartres and Amiens, Reims also had a labyrinth on its floor, but it was removed by the Church in 1779. Nevertheless, its image, taken from drawings made when the labyrinth was in place, is now the French Ministry of Culture’s logo designating historical monuments.

Notre-Dame d’Amiens

The final spoke in these radiating Notre-Dames leads north to the Cathedral of Amiens, 80 miles north of Paris, which has the largest interior of all the medieval mastodons of France, twice as voluminous as its elder sister Notre-Dame de Paris.

Amiens is perhaps the most harmonious of these cathedrals because, following the destruction of a previous cathedral destroyed by fire in 1218, it was built in a relatively short period of 50 years, from 1220 to 1270, making this the rare cathedral that an individual might see started and consecrated during his lifetime.

Along with its architectural prowess, the cathedral reveals a treasure chest of biblical, spiritual, political, and local anecdotes in stone, wood, and glass, all in tip-top condition thanks to cleaning and restoration in the 1990s. That work brought to light evidence of the extent to which the sculptures on the facade were painted in the Middle Ages. We often think of these medieval churches as being the color of the naked limestone, but in fact they were highly colored. An impressive 40-minute sound-and-light show (after nightfall in spring and summer and again in December) projects estimates of the original colors on the façade. Reims and Chartres also have sound-and-light shows against the façade of their cathedrals.

For the quality and drama of its sculptural works inside and out, Amiens is a remarkable monument to the talents of 13th century sculptors. Among its most celebrated details are the cartoon-like images of Hell on the central door, the crying angel behind the choir that came to be dear to soldiers visiting during the First World War, and the Golden Virgin which has been brought inside from its original pedestal on the southern entrance, where a copy now stands.

By the time Amiens’ cathedral was underway, the French style of architecture had gone mainstream and was spreading throughout Europe; Gothic cathedrals then sprouted up in surrounding kingdoms and empires until the 15th century. Then new winds of architectural and artistic change, those of the Renaissance, began to blow across the continent, this time set in motion by Italy. Follow those winds on another architectural trip abroad.

Practical information for visiting the five Notre-Dames

The Notre-Dames of Paris, Chartres, Laon, Reims and Amiens are all open daily and free for all visitors. These cathedrals are designated as national monuments; they are property of and largely maintained by the state, with the Catholic Church having permanent use of them for religious purposes. Visitors can enter at all times during the day except in the case of special events. Portions designated for religious service may be cordoned off for those attending service.

Church policy requests modest dress, such as covered shoulders and skirts or shorts that aren’t too short, and men should remove any hats upon entering. But authorities are fairly relaxed about it these days. In any case, visitors should respect the fact that the buildings do have a religious function along with their secular appeal as historical monuments.

If traveling in spring and summer consider attending a sound-and-light show after nightfall at the cathedrals of Chartres, Reims and Amiens (whose show also takes place in December).

While you can visit any of those outside of Paris by radiating out from the capital, Amiens, Laon (to which can be added the Gothic Saint-Quentin Basilica between Amiens and Laon) and Reims can be visited in a driving tour of the regions north and northeast of Paris. These can be combined with explorations of WWI sites in the countryside, making for a fascinating two or three or four days of historical touring, ending with a glass or three of champagne in and around Reims. The central tourist offices of those towns can provide information about WWI sites (including those with an American and Canadian presence) and specialized tours in the surrounding area.

Paris: The official website of the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau gives much practical information about visiting the city. The Catholic’s Church’s own information site about Notre-Dame provides details about the edifice as well as mass times, church-organized tours and concerts (the latter include free Sunday afternoon organ concerts which have been suspended during work on the instrument in 2012 and will resume in January 2013). Paris’s other great Gothic structure, the Saint Chapelle (Holy Chapel), the royal chapel of exquisite construction and mostly 13th-century glass, is just a few hundred yards from Notre-Dame in what was formerly a royal palace complex and is now the city’s judicial complex.

Saint-Denis: Saint-Denis Basilica, which is considered the first major structure built at the start of the Gothic era when reconstruction of its apse began in 1144, is located in the suburb/city of Saint-Denis, just north of Paris, and can be reached on metro (subway) line 13 at station Basilique de Saint-Denis. In 1966 it was also given the status of cathedral, so it is officially called the Basilica-Cathedral of Saint Denis. In addition to presenting extraordinary and luminous architecture, the basilica-cathedral contains dozens of royal tombs and funerary monuments since this was the traditional burial place of the royals of France. There is an entrance fee to visit the tombs and monuments. More information can be found here.

Chartres: 56 miles southwest of Paris; 1¼ hour by car; an hour by train departing from Paris Montparnasse Station; about $21 one way. In addition to its daytrip appeal, Chartres can be visited on the way to/from the Loire Valley or Brittany or as a detour to/from Normandy. Tourist information can be found here.  The church’s own website is here. A sound-and-light show takes place on the facade of the cathedral from April 20 to September 21.

Laon: 85 miles northeast of Paris; 2 hours by car; 1½-2 hours for direct trains departing every hour or two from Paris North (Nord) Station; about $30 one way. The Laon Tourist Office is beside the cathedral. Tourist officials have told me that few Canadians or Americans visit the town, so North Americans should stop into the tourist office while here and ask to be counted. Cathedral tours are worthwhile even when only in French because they give access to portions of the building that are otherwise inaccessible. Also see this photo reportage about Notre-Dame de Laon.

Reims: 80 miles northeast of Paris; 1¾ hours by car; 45-50 minutes by high-speed train (TGV) from Paris East (Est) Station; about $44. The tourist office is next to the cathedral and can provide information about visiting champagne house in the city. The church’s own website is here. A 25-minute sound-and-light show takes place at the cathedral certain evenings from June to September.

Amiens: 80 miles directly north of Paris; 1 ¾ hours by car; 70-100 minutes for direct trains leaving about every 1½ hours from Paris North (Nord) Station; about $29 one way. Amiens’ tourist information website is found here. Amiens projects a magnificent light show onto the façade of its cathedral. The last train back to Paris from Amiens leaves shortly after 8pm most days, though, so in summer you’ll have to miss either the show or the train. The 40-minute projection begins at 7pm during its December run, when Amiens’ Christmas market may add a bit of an attraction, so those willing to venture north at that time of year can catch part of the show before hurrying off to the station. Also see this article about Amiens.

© 2012, Gary Lee Kraut

The post Radiating from Paris: Our Glorious Ladies of Gothic Architecture (Part II: Reims, Amiens, Practical Tips) appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

April 16, 2019. In the wake of the fire that destroyed the roof and steeple of Notre-Dame to Paris, we republish this article paying homage to five glorious ladies of Gothic architecture, written in 2012 as Paris prepared the jubilee celebration honoring the 850th anniversary of the start of construction of the “new” cathedral of Paris.

As Paris prepares the jubilee celebration honoring the 850th anniversary of the beginning of construction of Notre-Dame Cathedral in 1163, France Revisited pays homage to that great Gothic monument at the center of the capital and to four other Notre-Dame Cathedrals within 100 miles of Paris. This article, of special interest to the historical and architectural traveler, is divided into two parts. Part I below concerns Notre-Dames of Paris, Laon and Chartres. Part II concerns Notre-Dames of Reims and Amiens and includes practical tips for visiting all five.

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Think Notre-Dame and the great cathedral of Paris comes to mind. Notre-Dame (Our Lady) needs no last name; it refers first and foremost to the Gothic monument at the heart of the world’s most visited city.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, to use its full name, is just one the great dames of Gothic architecture in northern France, the region at the hub of European religious architectural evolution in the 12th and 13th centuries and further restyling in the 14th and 15th centuries. Within a hundred miles of the French capital, four other Notre-Dame Cathedrals, each remarkable in its own way and each easily reached by train, offer the artful traveler their treasures of stone, sculpture and stained glass: Notre-Dame de Chartres, Notre-Dame de Laon, Notre-Dame de Reims and Notre-Dame d’Amiens.

Properties of the State, these monuments are now the heritage of secular France as much as they are of Catholic France. Indeed, the great benefit of France’s devotion to maintaining and restoring them is that we, as visitors, have access to their technological and artistic magnificence and their craftsmanship without being asked to accept the doctrine and the politics that gave rise to their construction. One can naturally pray, reflect and/or confess there, but while these cathedrals continue to function as Catholic prayer houses, they do not require practice or belief in order to be appreciated for they also function is historical monuments—and not solely of French history, but of European history and world history as well.

The five Roman Catholic cathedrals described here are among the magnificent mammoths of French Gothic architecture. “French” Gothic is actually somewhat redundant for these structures begun between 1163 and 1120 since France’s role in developing techniques to build higher and wider structures and then to embellish them was so prominent that what we now call Gothic architecture was long referred to as “French style” or “the French art.”

Notre-Dame de Paris

The term Gothic was invented by culture mavens of the 16th century, dominated by Italian influences, because they saw the prior generation of churches as passé, lacking harmony and refinement, barbaric like the Goths of the Dark Ages. But try convincing the 13-14 million people that visit Notre-Dame de Paris each year that they’ve come to see something crass.

In 1160 Bishop Maurice de Sully of Paris decided that his city’s cathedral—at the time a hodgepodge of older structures built over successive foundations going back to Roman times—needed to enter the modern era. In 1163 the foundation stone of the new cathedral was laid in the presence of Pope Alexander III. The 850th anniversary of that event is being celebrated at Notre-Dame from Dec. 12, 2012 to Dec. 11, 2013, with some events beyond that date.

The anniversary has been the occasion to the replace tired old bells for the towers, design of new interior lighting, restore the organ, and create a new museography in the treasury. Conferences, concerts and other religious celebrations honoring the jubilee will take place throughout the year.

Though the footprint of the Notre-Dames was set in place when construction was launched, evolving techniques and styles would lead to modifications of plans over the decades, even centuries, that it took to complete the project. The central potion and towers of Notre-Dame de Paris took about 77 years to complete, the great rose windows another 20 years, and the light-infused chapels surrounding the choir another 70.

Gothic architecture began with decades in structural development of rib vaults by trial and error, so there is no single inventor of this type of architecture. Glimpses of the evolution toward the rib vault had come from various horizons, including from Moorish and Arab arches. But Saint Denis Basilica, just north of Paris, set the tone for the next three centuries of religious architecture in France (and well beyond) when in 1144 Abbot Segur, the man who gets the most credit, launched the reconstruction of the abbey church that was then affirming its status as the final resting place of the kings of France.

The main features of Gothic architecture such as the ribbed vault, the pointed arch, lancet windows, flying buttresses, even its gargoyles, were solutions to technical problems rather than decorative tastes. Previous techniques (Romanesque vaulting and buttressing) had reached its limits in height and width without the structure collapsing from its own weight. The solution was a new kind of vault able to bear the weight though relatively narrow pillars, with the outward thrust supposed by other arches and eventually supported by flying buttresses. Height and width increased while the most remarkable feature of these new structures was that walls now relieved of the role of bearing the full weight of the structure’s upward reach could now be opened to allow in light through fanciful windows.

While the craft of making colored or semi-transparent glass and joining them together with lead strips existed before the Gothic period, the accomplishment of structural techniques allowing for large opening (lancet windows, rose windows and assorted tracery) led to an explosion of stained-glass making, allowing for a craft to develop into an art.

Using metal oxides, minerals or plants, stained glass makers developed reds, greens, blues and yellows that not only flooded these structures with light but allowed the church to illustrate scenes from the Bible, to speak of the lives of saints, and to represent local life, including that of noble donors and trade guilds that helped finance construction. At a time when the majority of the population was illiterate, being able to present stories in glass and in stone was an educational tool as well as a treat to the eye and a glorification of the subject.

Notre-Dame de Paris represents a feat of technical and artistic prowess for the time. Higher and wider cathedrals exist. Stunning windows can also be seen elsewhere. Yet even first-time 21st-century visitors to Notre-Dame, now accustomed to light-infused interiors, emit oohs and ahs of appreciation when standing with a view of the long, high nave. Imagine then how a visitor entering in the early 1300s, when the cathedral was nearing completion, must have felt. The scene from the Wizard of Oz in which Dorothy and her three traveling companions first enter the realm of the great wizard himself comes to mind.

Visitors today can take a tour or borrow an audio-guide or find an app to better understand the main features of Notre-Dame’s windows, sculptures, paintings, architecture and history. Or you can follow in-depth guidebooks to learn the vocabulary of Notre-Dame: ambulatory, apse, baldachin, bay, chancel, chevet, clerestory, façade, frieze, gargoyles, keystone, lancet windows, narthex, nave, portal, portico, radiating chapel, rose window, stained glass, transept, triforium, vaulting, etc..

Of course, not everyone is interested in all of those details. Still, the impression, the eye appeal, remains and may be sufficient to feel that one has discovered something special in seeing Our Lady of Paris. Even more special, it’s worth noting that Paris is graced with two extraordinary monuments representing major advancements in the evolution of construction over the past 900 years: Sully’s cathedral and Eiffel’s tower. Some may even see in the Eiffel Tower an echo of Notre-Dame’s spire, a 19th-century addition to the cathedral

The height and fame of the Eiffel Tower tends to make it the elevation of choice for visitors who want to see over the rooftops of Paris, but the Quasimodo view from atop Notre-Dame, 402 steps up (and a painful 1½-2½-hour wait in line at most times of year), is actually the city’s most telling view since the cathedral stands on an island at the geographical and historic center of the city.

Notre-Dame de Laon

Laon’s Notre-Dame, 85 miles northeast of Paris, is a luminous cathedral that dominates the surrounding town and countryside from atop the last outlier plateau of the northern edge of the Paris region. This is another first-generation or primitive Gothic structure, begun at about the same time as the cathedral of Paris. Few of the millions of visitors to Paris’s Notre-Dame come this way, primarily because from Paris Laon isn’t on the direct route to any major city or region. It’s well worth the detour and is gratifyingly off the beaten track.

Other medieval churches and cathedrals rightfully boast about their stained glass windows, but on a sunny day the clear windows in the lantern tower of Notre-Dame de Laon allows the naked stone inside to bathe in a seductive, uniform light.

While Laon can’t pride itself on its colored glass, it’s got gargoyles galore. And what would Gothic cathedrals be without their gargoyles? The short answer: infiltrated by water. Indeed, gargoyles, from the French word for gurgle, are firstly water spouts, designed to direct water away from the building. Their decorative aspect is secondary.

We generally think of gargoyles as representing devilish figures warding off evil along with rainwater. Yet gargoyles and other carved figures on the sides and tops of cathedrals aren’t all grotesques or chimeras. Along with the fabulous bestiary of water spouts on its outer walls, Laon has the particularity of presenting sculptures of oxen near the top of its towers, placed here in homage to their role in hauling stones to create the edifice.

Medieval architects, the masons, the craftsman, and the general population clearly had a different sense of time in launching such a massive project. In fact, the towers of many medieval cathedrals were never completed. Two of the seven towers originally planned for Laon were never built.

Guided tours take visitors up to the second-floor walkabout or tribune, giving a rare plunging view from inside a Gothic cathedral as well as the treat of seeing up close a collection of dismantled old gargoyles and weathered original sculptures—they truly are magnificent sight, a kind of medieval-cum-contemporary art that may even be more dramatic and telling now than when first created. Refashioned copies of these now adorn the cathedral outside.

From the second floor, the tour goes up to the towers, near the oxen, for a wonderful view of the cathedral’s heights, the old town below, and the surrounding countryside. Notre-Dame de Laon isn’t the highest of these cathedrals as measured from its base, but built on a plateau and has a wide view over the region. This Notre-Dame fully deserves its place among the great dames of France.

(More views of Notre-Dame de Laon can be found in the photo reportage here.)

Notre-Dame de Chartres

The French sculptor Auguste Rodin, a forward-looking artist who was never afraid to look back, called the Cathedral of Chartres “the Acropolis of France” for the way that it brought together the best that France had to offer in a building: rock for the walls, arches and sculptures; wood for the roof timbers; plants and minerals to color the stained glass, and the sun to stream through them.

Well, maybe not always sun here in northern France, but Chartres, 56 miles southwest of Paris, nevertheless stands out in any weather or season as one of the foremost jewels of Gothic art and architecture.

As all of these Notre-Dames, the cathedral seen today at Chartres stands on the remnants of a succession of religious buildings on its site. War, fire or a need to expand led to the construction of successive churches here. Some claim, without proof, that this site was already sacred to the Druids who led religious affairs for the Celtic tribe defeated during the Roman conquest of 52 BC. Pourquoi pas? The crypt of a 9th-century church that was destroyed by fire still lies under the current cathedral. Another fire in 1194 destroyed much of the 11th and 12th-century Romanesque basilica that replaced, though the western façade and its tower bases remain.

As for most of the rest, that 1194 fire coincided with a period of near mastery of Gothic architecture, and the builders, craftsman and artists involved with the relatively quick construction of Chartres took full advantage of that know-how. The cathedral was consecrated in 1260.

The silhouette of Notre-Dame de Chartres’ two uneven towers can be seen from miles away as you arrive by train or by car through the region’s wheat plains.

More than Notre-Dame de Paris, Chartres, a second-generation or classical Gothic construction, reveals the technological, artisanal and artistic prowess of the 13th century in part because it is exceptionally rich in stained glass from that time. That’s why so many travelers choose Chartres for their primary cathedral excursion from Paris. Though Amiens is a more entertaining town, Laon is more of an off-the-beaten-track discovery, and Reims offers more history plus champagne, Chartres Cathedral is rightfully deserving of its status as the ideal monument, for those willing to spend the time, for an in-depth understanding of Gothic art, craft and architecture.

Though most people now come to Chartres for the splendor of the cathedral rather than for prayer, it’s not uncommon to see some visitors following the 13th-century labyrinth inlaid on the floor beyond the entrance. Walked (or shuffled along on one’s knees) at a steady rhythm in silent prayer or meditation, movement along the labyrinth can symbolize a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the route to Christian redemption. It can also be seen simply as pleasant decoration. (An American company builds copies of the labyrinth for churches in the United States—choose your pavers.)

There are 4000 statues on the entranceways yet the cathedral is most celebrated for its stained glass windows, 28,000 square feet (or just over three-fifths of an acres) of them, mostly dating from 12th and 13th centuries. At a time when the majority of the population was illiterate, these representations in glass and in stone—of scenes from the Bible, of the lives of saints, of local life, and of noble donors and guilds that helped finance construction—were not simply decorative; they were an educational tool and a glorification of their subject.

Notre-Dame de Chartres is so rich in sculpture, stained glass and architectural details that having a guided tour or an audio-guide or book to point out some of the most significant ones can go a long way in helping you understand the cathedral’s hows and whys.

Click here to continue to Part 2 of this article covering Reims, Amiens and practical tips for visiting the five Notre-Dame Cathedrals.

The post Radiating from Paris: Our Glorious Ladies of Gothic Architecture (Part I: Paris, Laon, Chartres) appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Quentin and his brothers Ted Jr., Archie and Kermit all served in WWI. Ted Jr. would later be the oldest American soldier and highest ranking officer to land by sea in Normandy (Utah Beach) on D-Day June 6, 1944. He died of a heart attack five weeks into the invasion. Quentin was originally buried in the village of Chamery, where his plane crashed. The two brothers are now buried side by side at the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach.

In this exclusive France Revisited interview, Christiane Sinnig-Haas, author of a forthcoming book about Quentin Roosevelt, tells about “the most famous American victim of the First World War” and how, after becoming director of the Jean de La Fontaine Museum in Château-Thierry, she became interested in Quentin’s life.

[This interview was conducted in 2012. In 2015 Château-Thierry inaugurated the Maison de l’Amitié France-Amérique on Place des Etat-Unis. The building houses the tourist office, an exhibition space that speaks of the life and death of Quentin Roosevelt and a “mini-school” offering English classes for children.]

[Cliquer pour la version originale française de cet entretien.]

France Revisited: How did you come to be interested in Quentin Roosevelt?

Christiane Sinnig-Haas: I came upon Quentin Roosevelt by chance, as is the case with many encounters. His story is tied to the history of the First World War in the Chateau-Thierry region. I discovered the tragic destiny of Quentin Roosevelt when I took over as director of the Jean de La Fontaine Museum of Chateau-Thierry, which is also a Maison d’Ecrivain [Writer’s House].

I had just finished a book about a great contemporary Chinese writer Ba Jin who lived in Château-Thierry in the 1920s and whom the city wanted to honor when a friend took me to Chamery to the site where Quentin’s plane crashed on July 14, 1918.

The City of Château-Thierry also held a series of events and exhibitions in honor of the memory of Quentin Roosevelt in 2010.

In doing research about Quentin I discovered that he had left numerous letters telling about his short life before and after his arrival in France where he enlisted as a volunteer. He had inherited from his father, President Theodore Roosevelt, a taste for writing. In 1921 his brother Kermit published a selection of Quentin’s letters. Reading between the lines one discovers the portrait of the extremely likable and brilliant young man that was Quentin.

I traveled to Harvard, to Sagamore Hill [home of Theodore Roosevelt and family] and to Washington to better understand the reality of his daily life. It’s through his letters and through the archives maintained by the family that I entered into the world of Quentin Roosevelt.

Another decisive encounter was my meeting Richard Derby Williams and his wife Mary. Richard Derby Williams, grandson of Quentin’s sister Ethel to whom he was very close, attaches, as does the entire Roosevelt family, great significance to paying homage to Quentin’s sacrifice, and he was extremely positive about this project in English. He knows Château-Thierry well and has become friends with those here who honor and maintain the memory of Quentin. His grandmother Ethel Roosevelt Derby, guardian of the family memory, had established a friendship with a couple of teachers from the area, the Corets, who perpetuated the celebration of Memorial Day at Quentin’s tomb in Chamery, part of the commune of Coulanges-Cohan since 1954.

These warm relations have been perpetuated by her grandson and family, the Theodore Roosevelt Association, local authorities, the City of Château-Thierry, and the Aisne-Marne Cemetery at Belleau Wood.

FR: Quentin Roosevelt was the youngest son of President Theodore Roosevelt and is often described as being his favorite. Why?

C.S-H.: As his name indicates, Quentin was the fifth child of Theodore and Edith Roosevelt. His half-sister Alice and his mother Edith often remarked that he was undoubtedly the most talented of the President’s children and that he possessed a strong sense of humor.

At a young age he showed himself to be very bold and reckless and to have little physical inhibition, which frightened his parents. Intelligent, full of joie de vivre, direct, sensitive and inventive, he was a born leader, as can be seen early on in episodes of the White House Gang which delighted the press and the American public. The president attached great importance to the development of Quentin’s sense of responsibility and principles and channeled this spirit that he recognized in himself.

He was an excellent student whose interest in reading and writing were encouraged by his parents.

Theodore Roosevelt nourished high ambitions for Quentin in whom he might have seen a potential political heir. He shared his father’s traits both physically and intellectually, and Theodore didn’t fail to notice that Quentin had a certain charisma.

While a student at Harvard, Quentin became the epistolary confidant of his father who shared with him his opinions particularly regarding domestic and international politics. Like the president, he was charming and full of energy; he was sincere and applied the principles in which he believed.

Quentin had an absolutely limitless admiration for his father, whom he adored.

FR: Where did Quentin’s passion for flying come from and how did he become a pilot?

C.S-H.: Quentin surprised his friends and family early on with his strong attraction and innate talent for mechanics, which was both a passion and a gift.

In August 1909, during a family journey in Europe, he was struck by the beauty of an aerial show in Reims, which was for him a revelation. He was almost 12 years old. He returned to the region in 1918, as a pilot enlisting voluntarily to meet his destiny.

Poems that he wrote at a young age reveal his fascination with aviation, mechanics and engines. His enthusiasm for experiences involving mechanics wasn’t always shared by the family. While a student at Harvard he considered completing his degree at MIT and said that he wanted to become a mechanical engineer.

Theodore Roosevelt, for his part, understood very early on the strategic importance that aviation was going to have in the European conflict, especially after the first Battle of the Marne. He had written articles on the subject and Quentin was well aware of them.

In 1917, when the United States entered the war, Quentin, then at Harvard, immediately informed his parents of his decision to enlist in order to become a fighter pilot, despite problems with his back and his sight. His father gave his support and totally adhered to his decision.

Before leaving for France in July, Quentin was trained at the Mineola Aviation School then completing his training in France.

In 1917 the American army had less than one hundred trained pilots, and the manpower needs for the conflict in Europe were enormous.

FR: How did his father, a former president, feel about his son going to war?

C.H-S.: It’s undeniable that Theodore Roosevelt’s personality and ideas definitely marked the choices of his sons and of his entire family.

Theodore Roosevelt’s political perceptiveness concerning the conflict and the worldwide situation in Europe were remarkable. With premonitory insight he warned his countrymen of the economic and strategic dangers of a German victory for Europe as well as for the United States. He was convinced very early on of the necessity for the United States to get involved in Europe. The attitude of his successor in the White House, Woodrow Wilson, and of the latter’s refuge behind political neutrality—which enabled Wilson’s reelection in 1916—distressed Theodore Roosevelt.

Roosevelt early on sought to convince the American people that Wilson’s non-interventionist attitude and his pacifism were reprehensible; he called President Wilson a coward.

To Roosevelt, the United States’ entrance into the conflict in 1917 came very late and he considered the country to be unequipped and that a lot of time had been lost. (As early as 1914, Quentin’s sister Ethel, a nurse, had accompanied to France her husband Richard Derby, a surgeon voluntarily enlisted to work at the American Hospital in Paris.)

President Wilson’s refusal to allow Theodore Roosevelt (“Colonel” Theodore Roosevelt) to enlist, despite the insistence of allies who believed that his presence would have a positive effect on troop morale, left a bitter taste in the former president’s mouth since he was well-known and popular in Europe. His sons, he said, were his pride and his substitution due to the prohibition against being on the front in Europe himself.

In June 1917, his sons Ted and Archie sailed to France and Kermit for Mesopotamia (now Iraq). On July 23, 1917, Quentin sailed for France. For the entire family, participating in the war effort was a question of honor.

FR: What’s known of Quentin’s last dogfight?

C.S-H.: Quentin’s squadron, the 95th Pursuit Squadron, along with 94th Pursuit Squadron were the first American fighter plane squadrons.

On July 14, 1918, the situation in the Chateau-Thierry sector was extremely dangerous. German aviation had very strict orders to prevent any observation and reconnaissance attempts—the great German “Friedensturm” offensive was planned for the following day, July 15. The German commander had given orders to totally neutralize any observation flights along the front line.

On July 14, Quentin’s unit, based at Saints near Château-Thierry, took off early in the morning under the command of Lieutenant Edward Buford. The squadron’s mission was to fly cover for an observation plane of the 88th that would take photos behind the front line The photos were taken and the observation plane headed back to base when German Fokkers appeared. The formation of five American planes that had gone over the front line found themselves faced with a formation of seven German Fokkers.

Confronted with so many enemy planes, Lieutenant Buford decided to cease combat and to bring the unit back behind the lines. The weather was cloudy and windy and visibility wasn’t good. Between cloud layers, Lieutenant Buford caught sight of a Nieuport in difficulty being attacked by three Fokkers. It had apparently been hit. The dogfight lasted five to six minutes. Quentin had thrown himself into combat, undoubtedly the victim of his own great boldness, his bravery and his lack of fear, convinced that he was doing the right thing.

At the same time it was raining in Paris and the allies were parading down the Champs-Elysées for the July 14 French national holiday, Bastille Day.

Quentin was signaled as missing when the other airplanes returned to base. He had been shot down and had crashed in Chamery, in the German zone.

Quentin had deplored the superiority of the new design of the German Fokkers over the older American Nieuports in his letters and had noted the problems of being underequipped that his father had predicted at the start of the conflict.

FR: Quentin’s plane crashed on the other side of the front. The Germans buried him and, conscious that he was the son of a former American president, immediately informed the French military. What’s known about the reaction of the German and the French authorities to his death?

C.S-H.: News of Quentin’s death shocked the entire world. The press everywhere told of his sacrifice, and his courage was saluted unanimously. The Roosevelt name was known and respected by the French as well as by the Germans, both civilians and the military.

On July 15 he was buried in Chamery, a little village in the department of Aisne, at the place where his plane had crashed. An eyewitness described an impressive honor guard of German soldiers giving him military honors at the site.

In keeping with tradition, the broken blades of the propeller and the buckled wheels of his plane marked the site of his tomb surmounted by a wood cross.

A photo of his remains next the plane was taken by the German military. Its use as propaganda to lift troop moral quickly turned out to be extremely counterproductive among both civilians and the German army. It was even quite demoralizing for the troops. The comparison of the courageous son of the former American president dead in aerial combat with the six sons of the Kaiser who maintained a respectful distance from the front was rather unflattering for the latter and further glorified the sacrifice of Quentin and of his brothers Theodore Jr., Archie and Kermit, all on the front and volunteers in the name of the fight against barbarism.

The American press was explicit: On August 4, 1918 the Chicago Sunday Tribune printed photographs of the sons of President Theodore Roosevelt and the sons of the German Kaiser with the heading “THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMOCRACY AND AUTOCRACY.”

On the French side, Quentin’s death confirmed the admiration and the gratitude for these American volunteers. The high French authorities quickly send their condolences to Theodore and Edith. Quentin was decorated with the Croix de Guerre avec palme [a French medal for exceptional conduct during WWI].

FR: Quentin Roosevelt was killed in aerial combat on July 14, 1918, the French national holiday, Bastille Day? Is that in some way significant?

C.S-H.: Quentin had a rendez-vous with destiny. The symbolic date of his death amplified the prestige of his sacrifice. That date is part of what made him a legend. Le 14 juillet (the 14th of July), the national holiday, date of the storming of the Bastille, is the French equivalent of America’s Independence Day. It’s as though the son of a French president had been killed by the enemies on American soil on a 4th of July!

Quentin’s sacrifice and the Americans who volunteered to enlist in the First World War left a very strong mark in the collective memory; their enthusiasm, their energy and their indefectible faith in doing the right thing lifted the morale of soldiers and of the French people. The ferocious battles that took place in the area around Château-Thierry during the Second Battle of the Marne have marked forever the sites themselves and French-American friendship.

FR: Can you tell us about the reaction of the Roosevelt family to the news of Quentin’s death and the bond it created between the family and France after that?

C.S-H.: President Roosevelt was informed at Sagamore Hill [his home] on the morning of July 17. The reaction of the parents before the press and before the American people was one of great reserve and great dignity. They saluted Quentin’s courage and his sacrifice along with that of all parents whose sons were in danger or had died on the front in a foreign land. They wanted to share their pain with the American people and with parents who suffered as they did. Quentin’s father and mother didn’t ask for any more compassion than ordinary citizens.

In private the shock was violent. It was a shock of the ideals on which Theodore and Edith had built their lives confronted with the reality and pain of Quentin’s death. It’s possible that Theodore couldn’t stand the sense of guilt concerning Quentin’s tragic end. He was devastated. Something was extinguished in Theodore’s heart with Quentin’s death. His family, those close to him and he himself recognized it. The “Lion,” as his family called him, died six months later at the age of 60.

American troops liberated the area of Chamery and discovered Quentin’s tomb several days after his death. His parents wanted Quentin’s remains to stay buried there where he had fallen, and the authorities accommodated their desire.

Early in 1919, Quentin’s mother came to meditate on his tomb. The former First Lady had a fountain built in Quentin’s memory in the village of Chamery.

[Editor’s note: Quentin’s oldest brother Theodore Roosevelt Jr. died during the Invasion of Normandy 1944. After the creation of the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach, the Roosevelt family sought and obtained permission to have Quentin’s remains exhumed from Chamery and buried beside those of his brother. ]

FR: Beyond the personal story of his engagement in the war and the family tragedy of his death, how do those events fit in with the larger narrative of the war and why do you consider them significant?

C.S-H.: Quentin’s life, his birth, his personality, his intellectual abilities, his charisma and his humor formed an exceptional individual and someone who was extremely likable; he would undoubtedly have made his mark on America’s political or social landscape. He considered himself as someone who was very ordinary yet he had many uncommon qualities.

There’s a tragic and romantic dimension to his destiny about which he had a premonition. He went through very dark phases of depression but he felt that he had a mission that he could not and would not escape. That sentiment appears repeatedly in the letters to his fiancée Flora Payne Whitney. He belongs to a generation that expressed a pressing desire to fight for ideas. It gives pause to consider today the consensus at the time around the determination and the will to fight to the death that invaded the entire society, whatever the price may be. He was only 20 years old yet his letters reveal great maturity.

Reading his letter we can imagine someone for whom friendship was precious. His comrades-in-arms, the soldiers and the mechanics under his orders were unanimous in their great appreciation and respect for him. It’s difficult to fake your personality when death is lying in wait at every mission. Quentin belongs to the collective memory as do all those pilots who died in aerial combat.

He was undoubtedly the most famous American victim of the First World War.

Crushed by his destiny, by the war and by the events that engulfed the world, he would have belonged—had he not carried the Roosevelt name—to the thousands of forgotten aviators and aces who, like Quentin, wanted to bring an end to this war and to its butchery.

[Editor’s note: Regarding American WWI pilots who were killed in action, see also this information about the Escadrille Lafayette Memorial near Paris.]

One of his favorite expressions was “noblesse oblige,” something that defines him well; he carried a famous name that personified courage, it gave him responsibility, and he assumed it with nobility.

He embodied the quote from Theodore Roosevelt engraved on Quentin’s fountain in Chamery: “Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die.”

FR: How did you, as an expert on Quentin Roosevelt, come to be chief curator and director of a museum dedicated to Jean de La Fontaine? What brought you to the La Fontaine Museum?

C.S-H.: It’s because I’m director of the Jean de La Fountaine Museum in Château-Thierry, which is labeled “Musée de France” and “Maison d’écrivain” (Writer’s House), that I became interested in Quentin Roosevelt. My approach was essentially literary. His character emerged through a reading of his letters and through the archives.

Jean de La Fontaine was born in Château-Thierry. The museum occupies a 16th-century home that once belonged to his family and is listed as a Historical Monument. It’s just received from the Ministry of Culture the label “Maison des Illustres” [designating a home of someone “illustrious” or renown]. Restoration of the façade has just been completed.

La Fontaine is one of the great poets of the French literature. He lived in the 17th century, the century of Louis XIV, who both admired and was wary of La Fontaine’s genius. Great artists have illustrated his fables and tales: Fragonard, Oudry, Chagall, Dali, etc.

The museum has collections of exceptional paintings and miniatures as well as a library devoted to the writer.

Quentin knew French literature, including La Fontaine and La Bruyère, and had visited France in his youth. He had been impressed by the Louvre. In his letters he quotes authors in French. Through his education he had a command of French both spoken and written.

FR: English-speakers are especially familiar with Aesop’s fables but few know those of La Fontaine. In what way would the La Fontaine Museum be interesting for those who don’t know the writer’s work?

C.S-H.: Aesop’s fables are known in Anglo-Saxon literature and are found in La Fontaine, whose own work they inspired. The 17th century is the century of fables and tales that were showcased in French literature and at the Court of Louis XIV

La Fontaine uses animal anthropomorphism, putting to the forefront animals such as the fox, the wolf, the hare, the frog, the cat, the town rat and the country rat. That animal world is also the key to the success of Walt Disney, who adapted fables, fairy tales—stories with a moral component, often inspired by European literature. Among his sources of inspiration were the fables of La Fontaine.

The mouse known around the world, Mickey, sticks the tip of his snout into La Fontaine’s animal world. As with La Fontaine, the purpose is to permeate the imagination of children and adults, to get around censures and to give lessons in morality by using animals to give a message or to make situations less alarming.

Walt Disney’s The Tortoise and the Hare, a short film from Silly Symphonies released in 1935, was inspired by a fable that Jean de La Fontaine wrote for the king’s son.

There was a before and an after La Fontaine in literature just as there’s a before and after Walt Disney for their adaptation to the movies. Both are unequaled and incomparable. The fables and the ideals that they convey, such as courage, know no borders and are a bond between our two cultures.

Christiane Sinnig-Haas is the chief curator and director of the Musée Jean de La Fontaine in Château-Thierry. She is founder of the Association pour le Musée Jean de La Fontaine and vice president of the network of Writers’ Houses in the Picardy region.

The responses in this written interview, originally in French, are the copyright of Christiane Sinnig-Haas, 2012. Translation by Gary Lee Kraut.

The post Quentin Roosevelt, President’s Son, the Most Famous American Killed in France in WWI appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Christiane Sinnig-Haas est conservateur en chef, directrice du Musée Jean de La Fontaine. Elle est Fondatrice de l’Association pour le Musée Jean de La Fontaine et Vice-Présidente du réseau des Maisons d’écrivains de Picardie.

[Click here for the English version of this interview]

France Revisited : D’où vient votre intérêt pour Quentin Roosevelt?

Christiane Sinnig-Haas : C’est une rencontre due au hasard comme beaucoup de rencontres. Son histoire est liée à l’histoire de la première guerre mondiale dans la région de Château-Thierry. En prenant la direction du Musée Jean de La Fontaine de Château-Thierry qui est également une maison d’écrivain, j’ai découvert le destin tragique de Quentin Roosevelt.

Je venais de terminer un ouvrage sur un grand écrivain contemporain chinois Ba Jin qui vécut à Château- Thierry dans les années 20 et que la Ville de Château-Thierry souhaitait mettre à l’honneur quand un ami m’emmena à Chamery sur le lieu où s’était écrasé l’avion de Quentin le 14 juillet 1918.

La Ville de Château-Thierry a consacré l’année 2010 à Quentin Roosevelt.

En approfondissant ma recherche j’ai découvert que Quentin avait laissé de nombreuses lettres relatant sa courte vie avant et après son arrivée en France en tant qu’engagé volontaire.

Il avait hérité de son père, le président Théodore Roosevelt, le goût de l’écriture. Son frère Kermit avait publié en 1921 une sélection des lettres de Quentin. Entre les lignes se dessinait le portrait d’un jeune homme extrêmement sympathique et brillant : Quentin.

Je me suis ensuite rendue à Harvard, à Sagamore Hill, à Washington pour mieux appréhender la réalité de son quotidien. C’est par ses lettres et les archives conservées de la famille que je suis entrée dans le monde de Quentin Roosevelt.

Une autre rencontre a été déterminante celle de Richard Derby Williams et de son épouse Mary. Petit-fils d’Ethel la sœur de Quentin dont il était très proche, Richard Derby Williams attache comme toute la famille Roosevelt une grande importance à l’hommage rendu au sacrifice de Quentin. Il a été extrêmement positif pour ce projet en anglais . Il connaît bien Château-Thierry et les amis de longue date de Quentin. Sa grand-mère, Ethel Roosevelt Derby, gardienne de la mémoire de la famille avait notamment établi des liens d’amitiés avec un couple d’instituteurs du lieu, les Coret qui ont perpétré la célébration du Memorial Day sur la tombe de Quentin à Chamery, commune de Coulanges-Cohan à partir de 1954.

Ces liens chaleureux ont été entretenus par son petit-fils Richard Derby Williams et la famille, l’Association Théodore Roosevelt, les autorités locales, la Ville de Château-Thierry, et le célèbre site de Bois-Belleau.

FR : Quentin Roosevelt, le fils cadet du Président Theodore Roosevelt, est souvent décrit comme étant le préféré de son père. Pourquoi ?

C.S-H. : Comme son nom l’indique Quentin était le cinquième enfant de Théodore et Edith Roosevelt. Sa demi-sœur Alice , sa mère Edith n’ont pas manqué de souligner qu’il était sans doute le plus doué des enfants du Président et doté d’un solide sens de l’humour.

Il fit preuve très tôt d’une grande audace, il était téméraire et avait peu d’inhibition physique, ce qui effrayait ses parents.Intelligent, plein de joie de vivre, direct, sensible et inventif, il était un leader né comme en témoignent très tôt les épisodes de la White House Gang durant sa jeunesse qui ont fait les délices de la presse et des américains. Le Président attachait une grande importance au développement de son sens des responsabilités et des principes et canalisait cette fougue où il se reconnaissait. Excellent élève, son goût pour la lecture et l’écriture fut encouragé par ses parents.

Théodore Roosevelt nourrissait de grandes ambitions pour Quentin en qui il voyait peut-être un successeur politique potentiel. Il avait des traits communs avec son père, physiquement et intellectuellement. Théodore n’avait pas manqué de percevoir un charisme certain chez Quentin.

Etudiant à Harvard, Quentin devint le confident épistolier de son père qui lui faisait part de ses opinions notamment en matière de politique intérieure et extérieure. Comme le Président il avait du charme et beaucoup d’énergie, il était sincère et appliquait les principes auxquels il croyait. Quentin de son côté avait une admiration absolument sans borne pour son père qu’il adorait.

FR : D’où vient la passion de Quentin pour les avions et comment est-il devenu pilote?

C.S-H. : Très tôt Quentin étonna son entourage par sa grande attirance et ses talents innés pour la mécanique, c’était une passion et un don. En août 1909 au cours d’un voyage avec sa famille en Europe, il fut bouleversé par la beauté d’un show aérien à Reims, ce fut pour lui une révélation, il avait 12 ans. Il reviendra dans cette région en 1918, pilote engagé volontaire à la rencontre de son destin.

Dés son jeune âge ses poèmes traduisent cette fascination pour l’aviation, la mécanique, les moteurs. Son enthousiasme pour ses expériences mécaniques n’était pas toujours partagé par la famille. Etudiant à Harvard il souhaitait compléter son cursus au MIT et avait déclaré vouloir devenir ingénieur en mécanique.

Par ailleurs Théodore Roosevelt avait compris très tôt l’importance stratégique qu’allait prendre l’aviation dans le conflit en Europe, notamment après la première bataille de la Marne. Il avait écrit des articles à ce sujet et Quentin en était tout à fait informé.

En avril 1917 lors de l’entrée en guerre des Etats-Unis, Quentin qui était à Harvard avait immédiatement informé ses parents de sa décision de s’engager pour devenir pilote de chasse, malgré des problèmes de dos et de vue. Son père lui accorda tout son soutien et adhéra totalement à sa décision.Avant de partir pour la France en juillet il sera formé à l’Ecole d’aviation de Mineola, formation qui sera complétée ensuite en France.

L’armée américaine avait moins d’une centaine de pilotes entraînés en 1917, les besoins du conflit en Europe étaient énormes.

FR : Que pensait le père de Quentin, ancien président, du désir de son fils à s’engager dans la guerre?

C.S-H. : Il est incontestable que la personnalité de Théodore Roosevelt, ses idées ont définitivement marquées le choix de ses fils et de toute sa famille. La clairvoyance politique de Théodore Roosevelt concernant le conflit et la situation mondiale en Europe étaient remarquables. D’une perspicacité prémonitoire il mettait en garde ses concitoyens contre les dangers économiques et stratégiques d’une victoire allemande pour l’Europe comme pour les Etats-Unis. Il fut très tôt convaincu de la nécessité de l’engagement des Etats Unis en Europe.

L’attitude de son successeur à la Maison Blanche Woodrow Wilson et son refuge dans une neutralité prudente -qui permit d’ailleurs la réélection de Wilson en 1916 -était un désespoir pour Théodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt a très tôt cherché à convaincre le peuple américain que l’attitude de non-ingérence et le pacifisme de Wilson étaient condamnables; il traitait le Président Wilson de lâche.

L’entrée des Etats-Unis dans le conflit en 1917 lui semblait très tardive, il estimait le pays sous équipé et beaucoup de temps avait été perdu malgré sa véhémence.

Dés 1914 la sœur de Quentin, Ethel avait accompagné comme infirmière son époux Richard Derby chirurgien engagé volontaire à Hôpital Américain de Paris.

Le refus du président Wilson de l’engagement de Théodore Roosevelt malgré l’insistance des alliés, qui pensaient que sa présence aurait un effet positif pour le moral des troupes fut très amèrement ressentie par Théodore Roosevelt qui était connu et populaire en Europe.

Ses fils comme il le disait étaient sa fierté, sa substitution à l’interdiction qui lui était faite d’être sur le front en Europe. En juin 1917 ses fils Ted et Archie embarquaient pour la France, Kermit pour la Mésopotamie (Irak actuel). Le 23 juillet 1917 Quentin embarquait pour la France. Pour toute la famille participer à cet effort de guerre était une question d’honneur.

FR : Que sait-on de son dernier combat aérien?

C.S-H. : L’escadrille de Quentin la 95th Pursuit Squadron  ainsi que la 94 th Pursuit Squadron ont été les premières escadrilles de chasse aérienne américaine.

Ce 14 juillet 1918 la situation du secteur de Château-Thierry était extrêmement dangereuse. L’aviation allemande avait des ordres très stricts pour empêcher toute tentative d’observation et de reconnaissance : la grande offensive allemande «  Friedensturm » était prévue pour le lendemain 15 juillet. Le commandement allemand avait donné des ordres pour neutraliser absolument tout vol d’observation sur la ligne de front.

Le 14 juillet l’unité de Quentin basée prés de Château -Thierry à Saints décolla tôt ce matin là sous le commandement du lieutenant Buford Edward. La mission de l’escadrille était de couvrir un avion d’observation du 88 th qui prenait des photos derrière la ligne de front. Les clichés avaient pu être pris  et l’avion d’observation était reparti vers la base lorsque des Fokkers de chasse allemands apparurent. La formation des cinq avions américains qui avaient  franchi la ligne de front s’est trouvée face à une formation de 7 Fokkers allemands.

Le lieutenant Buford devant le grand nombre d’avions ennemis décida de cesser le combat et de ramener l’unité derrière les lignes. Le temps était couvert, nuageux, il y avait du vent et la visibilité n’était pas bonne. Le lieutenant Buford aperçu un avion Nieuport en difficulté entre les couches de nuages, attaqué par trois Fokkers et qui avait apparemment été touché. Le combat avait duré cinq à six minutes.

Quentin s’était jeté dans le combat sans doute victime de sa grande témérité, de sa bravoure  et de son manque de peur, convaincu de son bon droit. Au même moment il pleuvait à Paris et les alliés défilaient sur les Champs Elysées pour la parade du 14 juillet. Au retour l’avion de Quentin était signalé manquant : il avait été abattu et s’était écrasé à Chamery en zone allemande.

La supériorité des appareils allemands : des Fokkers de chasse de conception nouvelle sur les appareils américains de vieux Nieuport avait été déplorée par Quentin dans ses lettres et rappelait les problèmes de sous équipement que son père le Colonel Roosevelt avait prédit dés le début du conflit.

FR : L’avion de Quentin s’est écrasé au delà du front. Les allemands l’ont enterré et conscients qu’il était le fils d’un ancien président américain ont prévenu immédiatement les français de sa mort. Que sait-on de la réaction des autorités allemands et des français par rapport à sa mort?

C.S-H. : La mort de Quentin a été un choc dans le monde entier, la presse a relaté son sacrifice dans tous les pays et son courage a été salué de façon unanime. Le nom de Roosevelt était connu et respecté des français comme des allemands, civils et militaires.

Le 15 juillet il a été enterré à Chamery, petit village de l’Aisne à l’endroit où son avion s’est écrasé. Un témoin oculaire mentionne une garde d’honneur impressionnante de soldats allemands lui rendant les honneurs militaires sur le site. Conformément à la tradition les pales brisées de l’hélice et les roues voilées de son avion ont marqué l’emplacement de sa tombe surmontée d’une croix de bois.

La photo de sa dépouille à côté de l’avion a été prise par les services allemands. Son exploitation à des fins de propagande pour remonter le moral des troupes s’est très vite révélée extrêmement contre-productive au sein de la population comme de l’armée allemande. Elle était même très démoralisante pour les troupes.

La comparaison du courageux fils du président américain mort en combat aérien avec celle des six fils du Kaiser qui se tenaient à distance respectueuse du front était peu flatteuse et glorifiait encore davantage le sacrifice de Quentin et de ses frères Théodore, Archie et Kermit tous au front et volontaires au nom du combat contre la barbarie.

La presse américaine était explicite : Le Chicago Sunday Tribune du 4 août 1918  affichait la photo des fils du président Théodore Roosevelt et des fils du Kaiser allemand avec comme titre «  LA DIFFERENCE ENTRE DEMOCRACIE ET AUTOCRACIE ». Cela ne laissait aucun doute sur l’opinion publique partagée largement au-delà des frontières.

Du côté français la mort de Quentin confirmait l’admiration et la reconnaissance pour ces volontaires américains. Les hautes autorités françaises ont très vite fait part de leurs condoléances à Théodore et à Edith. Quentin a été décoré de la Croix de Guerre avec palme.

FR : Quentin Roosevelt est mort lors d’un combat aérien le 14 juillet 1918, jour de la fête nationale française. Cela a-t-il une importance particulière?

C.S-H. : Quentin est allé à la rencontre de son destin. La date symbolique de son décès  a amplifié  le prestige de son sacrifice. Cette date fait partie de son entrée dans la légende. Le 14 juillet français, jour de fête nationale de la prise de la Bastille est l’équivalant français de l’Independence Day américain. C’est un peu, comme si le fils d’un président français avait été abattu par les ennemis sur le sol américain un 4th of July !

Le sacrifice de Quentin et des volontaires américains de la première guerre mondiale a laissé un souvenir très fort dans la mémoire collective, leur enthousiasme, leur énergie, leur indéfectible foi en leur bon droit avaient remonté le moral des soldats et du peuple français. Les batailles féroces menées dans le secteur de Château Thierry dans le cadre de la seconde bataille de la Marne ont marqué à jamais les lieux et l’amitié franco-américaine.

FR : Le président Roosevelt est mort six mois après son fils, à l’âge de 60 ans. Pourriez-vous nous parler de la réaction de la famille Roosevelt lors de la nouvelle de la mort de Quentin et les liens que cela a créé entre la famille et la France par la suite ? 

C.S-H. : Le Président Roosevelt a été informé à Sagamore Hill dans la matinée du 17 juillet  La réaction des parents devant la presse et devant le peuple américain a été d’une grande réserve et d’une grande dignité, saluant le courage de Quentin et son sacrifice, incluant ce sacrifice dans celui de tous les parents dont les fils étaient en danger ou morts sur le front en terre étrangère.

Ils voulaient partager cette douleur avec le peuple américain et les parents dans la peine comme eux. Le père et la mère de Quentin ne souhaitaient pas plus de compassion que des citoyens ordinaires En privé, le choc fut très violent, choc des idéaux sur lesquels Théodore et Edith avaient construit leurs vies avec la réalité de la douleur de la disparition de Quentin. Il n’est pas exclu que Théodore ne pouvait supporter un sentiment de culpabilité concernant la fin tragique de Quentin. Il était dévasté. Quelque chose s’est éteint dans le cœur de Théodore avec la disparition de Quentin, sa famille, ses proches, et lui-même le reconnaissaient. Le «  Lion » comme le surnommait sa famille s’éteindra six mois plus tard à l’âge de 60 ans.

Les troupes américaines ont libéré le secteur de Chamery et ont découvert la tombe de Quentin quelques jours après sa mort. Ses parents souhaitaient que Quentin repose là où il était tombé et les autorités ont tenu compte de ce souhait.

Au début de l’année 1919 la mère de Quentin viendra s’y recueillir. L’ex First Lady fera construire une fontaine à la mémoire de Quentin dans le village de Chamery.

FR : Au delà de son engagement personnel dans la guerre et de la tragédie familiale de sa mort, en quoi l’histoire de Quentin Roosevelt est-elle importante?

C.S-H. : La vie de Quentin , sa naissance , sa personnalité , ses capacités intellectuelles , son charisme, son humour, en faisaient une personnalité hors norme et quelqu’un d’extrêmement attachant et il aurait sans doute compté dans le paysage politique ou social américain. Il se qualifiait de très ordinaire, mais il avait beaucoup de qualités peu communes. Il y a une dimension tragique et romantique dans son destin dont Il avait la prémonition.   Il passait par des phases de dépression très noires  mais se sentait investi d’une mission à laquelle il ne pouvait et ne voulait pas échapper. Cela apparaît de façon récurrente dans les lettres à sa fiancée Flora Payne Whitney. Il appartient à une génération qui exprime un désir impérieux de se battre pour des idées. Ce consensus autour de cette détermination et de cette volonté de lutte à mort qui envahissait toute la société de son temps quelque soit le prix à payer donne à réfléchir.

Il avait vingt ans, mais ses lettres sont d’une grande maturité. En le lisant on se dit qu’il était quelqu’un dont l’amitié était précieuse. Ses compagnons d’armes, les soldats, les mécaniciens sous ses ordres étaient unanimes, et avaient pour lui une grande sympathie et du respect : il est difficile de tricher sur votre personnalité quand la mort vous guette à chaque mission.

Quentin appartient à la mémoire collective, comme tous ces pilotes qui ont trouvé la mort en combat aérien. Il fut sans doute la victime américaine la plus célèbre de la première guerre mondiale. Broyé par son destin, par la guerre, par des évènements qui laminaient le monde, il aurait fait partie -sans le nom qu’il portait -des milliers d’aviateurs et as oubliés qui avaient comme lui le désir de faire cesser cette guerre , de faire cesser cette boucherie.

L’une de ses expressions préférées était «  noblesse oblige » et cela le définit très bien. Il portait un nom célèbre qui personnifiait le courage, il avait cette responsabilité, et l’a assumé avec noblesse. Il incarnait la citation de Théodore Roosevelt gravée sur la fontaine de Quentin à Chamery : “Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die”. “Seuls sont bien vivants ceux qui n’ont pas peur de mourir”.

FR : Comment se fait-il qu’une experte sur Quentin Roosevelt soit également directrice d’un musée consacré à Jean de La Fontaine? Qu’est ce qui vous a amené au Musée La Fontaine?

C.S-H. : C’est parce que je suis conservateur directrice du musée Jean de La Fontaine de Château-Thierry qui est labellisé Musée de France, mais aussi Maison d’écrivain que je me suis intéressée à Quentin Roosevelt, l’approche a été essentiellement littéraire , le personnage s’est dessiné ensuite au fil des lettres, et des archives.

Jean de La Fontaine est né à Château-Thierry. Le musée est un hôtel particulier qui fut propriété de la famille classé monument historique, il vient d’être labellisé Maison des Illustres. La restauration des façades vient d’être achevée.

La Fontaine est l’un des plus grands poètes de la langue française, il a vécu au 17ème siècle, siècle de Louis 14 qui admirait et se méfiait du génie de La Fontaine. Les plus grands artistes ont illustré ses fables et ses contes Fragonard, Oudry, Chagall, Dali …

Le musée possède des collections de peintures et de miniatures tout à fait exceptionnelles mais aussi une bibliothèque unique consacrée à cet écrivain.

Quentin connaissait la littérature française, La Fontaine, mais aussi La Bruyère et il avait visité la France  dans sa jeunesse. Il avait été impressionné par le Louvre. Dans ses lettres il cite les auteurs en français dans le texte. De par son éducation il maîtrisait le français aussi bien à l’oral qu’à l’écrit.

FR : Les Anglophones connaissent surtout les fables d’Esope mais peu celles de La Fontaine. En quoi le Musée La Fontaine pourrait-il donc intéresser ceux qui ne connaîtraient pas à priori cet auteur?

C.S-H. : Les fables d’Esope sont connues dans la littérature anglo-saxonne et se retrouvent chez La Fontaine qui s’en est inspiré. Le 17ème siècle est le siècle des fables et des contes qui ont été remis à l’honneur dans la littérature française et à la cour de Louis XIV.

L’anthropomorphisme animal est présent chez La Fontaine, il a mis au premier plan des animaux comme le renard, le loup, le lièvre, la grenouille, le chat, le rat de ville et le rat des champs, ce monde animal est la clé du succès de Walt Disney qui a lui aussi adapté les fables, les contes de fées, les histoires à visée morale et souvent d’inspiration  européenne. Parmi ses sources d’inspiration figurent les fables de La Fontaine.

La souris mondialement connue Mickey pointe le bout de son museau dans le monde de La Fontaine. Comme chez La Fontaine il s’agit d’imprégner l’imaginaire des enfants et des adultes et de détourner la censure, de donner des leçons de morale en se servant des animaux pour faire passer un message ou dédramatiser des situations.

Le Lièvre et la Tortue de Walt Disney, un court métrage des Silly Symphonies sorti en 1935 s’inspire de la fable de Jean de La Fontaine, qui l’avait écrite pour le fils du roi, le jeune dauphin.

Il y a eu un avant et après La Fontaine dans la littérature comme il y a eu un avant et un après Walt Disney pour l’adaptation au cinéma. Ils sont inégalés et inégalables tous les deux.

Les fables et les idéaux qu’elles véhiculent comme le courage n’ont pas de frontière et sont un lien entre nos deux cultures.

Réponses dans cet entretien avec Gary Lee Kraut paru en premier lieu sur France Revisited en juillet 2012 © Christiane Sinng-Haas.

Christiane Sinnig-Haas est conservateur en chef, directrice du Musée Jean de La Fontaine. Elles est Fondatrice de l’Association pour le Musée Jean de La Fontaine et Vice-Présidente du réseau des Maisons d’écrivains de Picardie.

The post Quentin Roosevelt, fils du président américain, mort pour la France le 14 juillet 1918 appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

It was one of those sights or grouping of sights that I kept hearing about and that I kept ignoring. Each time it rose to the top of my list of places to visit in the months ahead I would push it back a few notches.

Yet Chateau Thierry eventually made it to the top of that list—in part because I’d already toured and written so much about the WWII D-Day Landing Zone that had become increasingly interested in the WWI landscape of France; in part because the 100th anniversary of The Great War, the Der Des Ders, is approaching; and finally because I had the opportunity to interview and tour the WWI sights near Chateau-Thierry with David Atkinson, Superintendent of the Aisne-Marne American War Cemetery.

Before moving on to other work on the subject of these sights, here is a photolog of a day’s visit.

The Chateau-Thierry War Monument overlooks the town and the Marne Valley from above the Champagne vineyards at the top of a hill two miles west of the town center. I arrived on a day of low clouds and on-and-off rain. Though Chateau Thierry is administratively in the department of Aisne, the Champagne vineyards start here.

I went up for closer look at the double colonnade monument constructed to “commemorate the sacrifices and achievements of American and French fighting men in the region and cooperation of French and American forces during World War I.”

Constructed in 1930, the memorial was designed by Paul Cret, the French-American architect who received numerous commissions to create war memorials and battlefield monuments in Europe and in the United States. The American Battle Monuments Commission, “guardian of America’s overseas commemorative cemeteries and memories,” was created in 1923.

A description of the significance of the battles involving American soldiers that began in the Marne Valley is engraved on the memorial.

Figures representing the United States and France hold hands at the center of the west façade.

Visitors unfamiliar with the region may have difficulty situating the towns on the map below of the Aisne-Marne Salient that’s engraved on the monument. You’ll notice that the big Champagne towns of Epernay and Reims are just to the east and northeast. Among the WWI sites indicated on the map, the Chemin des Dames (near the top of the map), a ridge of tunnels and trenches presented now in a museum on the site, also makes for a worthy stop for more extensive war touring in the region.

The Aisne-Marne American Cemetery is 4.5 miles northwest of the monument, 6.5 miles from the town. The cemetery and the woods above it comprise the area’s main WWI sight for symbolic value and, though largely unknown to Americans, those woods are of utmost to members of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Belleau Wood: the very name is a battle cry for the Marines Corps. It was in the fierce Battle of Belleau Wood that the Marines earned their military lettres de noblesse by holding off an important sector of the final German offensives of 1918, before pursuing, along with French and British forces, the advances that would eventually lead to Germany’s recognition of defeat in the form of the Armistice of November 11.

The Army was naturally also a major force along this front though the headlines at the time emphasized the Marines, so there remains a hearty rivalry between Army and Marines as to the credit each deserves. In any case, 17% of those buried at this cemetery were Marines, according to David Atkinson, Superintendent of the Aisne-Marne Cemetery.

With drama similar to the position of the Normandy American Cemetery on the cliff above the once-bloodied tides of Omaha Beach, the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery lies at the foot of the great battleground that was Belleau Wood.

The cemetery, more particularly Belleau Wood itself, has ever since been a pilgrimage site for the Marines. On leave from Afganistan or Iraq or stationed elsewhere, says Atkinson, Marines will come here and ask (or frequently not ask) to spend the night in the woods.

David Atkinson’s American father landed in Normandy a week after D-Day and took part in the Battle of Normandy 1944 as part of the Engineering Corps… and met Atkinson’s French mother there.

Atkinson oversaw the cemetery as superintendent from 2002 to 2003 and again beginning in 2007. [Post-note: David Atkinson retired from the position in 2015.]

He says that despite the site’s significance in American military history, no sitting president has visited the site, though Nixon visited after his presidency. The cemetery nevertheless hosts one of Europe’s largest American Memorial Day commemorations.

The cemetery contains the remains of 2289 war dead, most of whom fought in the vicinity and in the Marne Valley in the late spring and summer of 1918. The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, a 30-minute drive (about 17 miles) northeast of here near the town of Fère-en-Tardenois, contains far more tombs (6012) than Aisne-Marne, however the latter’s connection with Belleau Wood gives it its special symbolic meaning.

Eighty, ninety years on, it’s necessary to replace or restore some of the original Italian marble headstones.

Inside the chapel…

… the walls are inscribed with the names of 1060 originally listed as missing. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered or identified.

A German Cemetery with the remains of 8625 soldiers lies a half-mile up the road.

Superintendent Atkinson took me on a tour of Belleau Wood, where we stopped to overlook the chapel…

… and to glimpse the cemetery between the trees.

The outline of trenches of 1918 can still be seen in Belleau Wood.

Captured Germany artillery is still there.

A monument shows a Marine attacking with rifle and bayonet.

The thickest of the oak trees standing in the woods were witness to the fighting of June 1918. Superintendent Atkinson says that visiting Marines will often want to take a piece of the wood home with them, harming trees in the process. That led him to carve up some trees that were to be removed anyway in efforts to preserve Belleau Wood and to offer up engraved pieces as gifts to visiting Marines and to certain other curious visitors.

I thank him for including me among the latter. Here is my piece of Belleau Wood, along with the flags he kindly supplied.

Practical information

Opening times: The cemetery is open daily from 9am to 5pm except Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.

Getting there: Chateau Thierry is 54 miles east from Paris, an hour by train or by car. Reims is another 30 minutes further east. By car, the war sights are easily visited just off the A-4 autoroute on the way to or from Champagne or on an overnight in the Chateau Thierry area. By train, it’s possible to take a taxi to the monument and to the cemetery or to rent a car for the day.

Tourist information: The official tourist website for Chateau Thierry and the surrounding area in this southern portion of the department of Aisne.

Tours: For an excursion combining war touring and champagne vineyards see here.

Other articles about WWI touring in and near Chateau-Thierry

ABMC WWI Museum Opens at Château-Thierry’s American Monument
Château-Thierry Reaffirms Its Bond with the United States
Quentin Roosevelt, President’s Son, the Most Famous American Killed in France in WWI

Other notable sights in and near Chateau Thierry

Museum of the Treasure of the Hotel Dieu
The town’s most artful site is its Hotel Dieu, a former convent and Church-run hospital-cum-public hospital that presents its treasure-trove of paintings, sculptures, earthenware, furniture and religious articles, all of which were donated to the institution over the centuries. Chateau Thierry’s Hotel Dieu was founded by Queen Jeanne de Navarre in 1304 and had its heyday as a religious institution thanks to major benefactors of the late 17th and 18th centuries. Among modern benefactors are the Friends of French Art California who helped finance the restoration of a painting and a buffet. A guided tour (the only way to access the museum) explains the history of the institution, opens the doors to its treasures, and tells the fascinating and sometimes horrific story of the cloistered life. The Hotel Dieu served as a public hospital until 1983 and remains the property of the public hospital system. There are limited touring times (Fri. and Sat. Nov.-March, also Sun. April-Oct.), so check the website in advance for times and/or call town hall (03 23 83 51 14) for a reservation.

The La Fontaine Museum
Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) is the French-speaking world’s most famous fable teller. (The English-speaking world is more familiar with the work of Aesop, whose work comes to us from Greek then Roman Antiquity.) La Fontaine’s birthplace and family home, dating from 1559, has been a museum in his honor since 1876 and has recently been restored. Open daily except Monday.

Chateau de Condé
There’s little to be seen of the castle that gave Chateau Thierry its name, but there is a notable private chateau 10 miles east that’s open to the public. The Chateau de Condé, in the village of Condé en Brie, is rather under-visited considering the quality of its décor of the 17th and 18th centuries and the possibility of encountering members of the Pasté de Rochefort family, owners since 1983. Open April 15-Oct. 15 daily except Mon., 2:30-5:30pm. Open for groups upon reservation at other times.

Dance with the Eagles
A live outdoor show of birds of prey is held daily April 1-Nov. 2 by the ruins of Thierry’s castle. Here, to close the American theme of this photolog, is an American Bald Eagle that I met in its dressing room after the show.

Photos and text © 2011, Gary Lee Kraut.

For another article about WWI memorials and cemeteries in northern France read “Olivier Dirson, WWI Battlefield Guide: One History Leads to Another.”

The post An Hour from Paris: Chateau Thierry’s American WWI Sights (photolog) appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

The gate announces the Condé Museum that lies within the chateau.

Actually, it’s difficult to figure out which is the side and which is the front of Chantilly because the building lacks symmetry. The chateau is in fact comprised of two connected buildings, one a 17th-century palace, the other a 19th-century museum/chateau built on top of the remnants of a medieval fortified castle.

It was a grey day, though occasionally the clouds would part, as in the photo above, before closing again, as in the view below, from the opposite side, just above the formal French garden.

Below, a view looking back from the edge of those formal gardens.

They were designed by Andre Le Notre, the father of French gardens and have been restored in the past few years to their 17th-century geometric glory as part of a vast on-going restoration project of the entire domain. Here is Le Notre holding plans for the project…

which include an aqueduct that feeds the basins and allows the fountains to run 24/7.

Inside the chateau, there’s an ornate goat’s head banister, one of many places that present the letters HO for Henri d’Orléans, fifth son of the last King of the French, Louis-Philippe, a.k.a. the Duc d’Aumale (1822-1897).

When only 8 years old, Henri inherited the Domain of Chantilly from his godfather, the last Prince de Condé. Here are the arms of the House of Condé, cousins to the Bourbon kings after 1588:

When Henri d’Orléans’ father was overthrown in 1848, the family went into exile in England (Orleans House, Twickenham). Henri also spent time in Sicily, near Palermo. He eventually returned to France after the fall of Napoleon III in 1870. He then set about constructing new portions of the chateau and transforming the whole into a luxuriant museum honoring the Condé and Orléans families.

Since his children died before he did, Henri in turn bequeathed the Domain of Chantilly and its remarkable collections of art and books to the Institut de France, an institution that since the 17th century has brought together the official intellectual and cultural elite of France. The Duc d’Aumale made the bequeathal on the condition that the Institut de France would maintain the domain and its collections and neither lend nor alter the presentation of the elements of those collections. (Should the institute fail to fulfill these conditions the domain will revert to the decendants of his numerous neices and nephews.)

Here the Duc d’Aumale gazes upon one of the painting galleries in his museum.

Chantilly is also famous for its palatial stables, where equestrian shows and presentations are given. These sculptures appear above the entrance to the stables.

Parting shot of the chateau:

I’ll be exploring and explaining Chantilly in a future article. In the meantime, more information about the Domain of Chantilly, which includes the chateau, museum, park and stables, can be found on the domain’s official website.

– Photos and text by Gary Lee Kraut

The post Photolog: A Day Trip to the Chateau de Chantilly appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

The post Olivier Dirson, WWI battlefield guide: one history leads to another appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.