Forget the Eiffel Tower, Versailles and the Chartres Cathedral, I’ve got some alternative French attractions to see…
La Maison Picassiete- “The House of the Plate Stealer”
Built entirely by one man, it took Raymonde Isidore more than 25 years to complete his impressive Maison Picassiette. In 1936, the middle-aged Frenchman began covering his house located about 50 km south of Paris in Chartres, with elaborate mosaics of broken crockery. Although the house is today an intimate museum, open to the public, Raymonde was ridiculed and mocked by local townspeople during his lifetime for his eccentric hobby. He continued adding to his mosaic house right until his death in 1964. The house is now counted as a historical monument.
Find details for visiting the museum here
Images via Joy of Shards
Cunégonde et Malabar
The peculiar home of conceptual artist Ben Vautier in Nice, France was named after his children, Cunégonde et Malabar, when he opened it as a gallery in 1976. The house and garden looks like a kitschy boneyard of found objects, shop signs, old bidets and junk sculptures, along with Vautier’s own graffiti work decorating the house walls.
Info for finding Ben Vautier’s gallery here.
Images via Curious Places from the book “Fantasy Worlds”.
La Maison de Celle qui Peint
Talk about giving a new lick of paint to your house! Artist Danielle Jacqui painted her entire house in Rocquevaire, near Marseille, transforming the typical rural townhouse into a work of art that now attracts visitors from all over. Every inch is covered with painted scenes, embroideries or ceramic objects embedded in the walls.
Find the house here.
Images via Dominique Pipet on Flickr and Curious Places
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MORE ALTERNATIVE TOURISM:
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