LE HAVRE ❘ CITY FOCUS
FIVE MUST-SEE SITES IN LE HAVRE
From Impressionism to Modernism, Le Havre has architectural and cultural riches to please all palates. Here are fi ve of our favourites…
SAINT-JOSEPH CHURCH The windows are geometric and the glass irregular in thickness, using seven colours that produce more than 50 shades, the darkest at the tower’s base, getting lighter as they go up, the colours changing with the sun.
www.lehavre.catholique.fr
MUMA As well as the permanent collection, MuMa hosts temporary exhibitions. Visit between April 22 and September 24 to see works by French painter Albert Marquet, a friend of Henri Matisse.
www.muma-lehavre.fr
HÔTEL DE VILLE The Place de l’Hôtel de Ville is one of the largest squares in Europe and combines a classical colonnade fronting large reception rooms and the modern 72m offi ce tower. Three-storey buildings of fl ats above shops are listed Historic Monuments.
PERRET SHOW FLAT Explore state-of-the-art post-war apartment living with a large bathroom, lab-style kitchen and folding partitions to enlarge or close off areas situated next to the main room. www.lehavreseine-
patrimoine.fr
This picture and below: The Bassin du Roy in the heart of Le Havre; the Église Saint-François dates back to the 16th century
and 1964, Perret’s workshop numbered around 100 architects all working on his ambitious plan to create a new town of uniform buildings and green space. And nearly 80 years on, this coherent urban landscape is far from the clichéd idea of a ‘concrete jungle’. Dubbed ‘Manhattan-on-Sea’ by the post-war press, Le Havre–Porte Océane was awarded World Heritage status by UNESCO in 2005 as an outstanding example of modern architecture. But today, Le Havre is much more than a ‘new town’ of the 1950s. In 2019, the city and surrounding communes were brought together to form the Urban Community of Le Havre Seine Métropole. Covering the whole Pointe de Caux area, the community combines both the modern and historic city with 40 miles of coastline along the Seine estuary and the cliffs of the Alabaster Coast. It’s a fi tting inclusion, given the area’s popularity with the Impressionist artists of the late 19th century, a movement that unwittingly began here. In 1872, Claude Monet painted a picture of the harbour at Le Havre entitled ‘Impression, Sunrise’.Two years later, he displayed the canvas at a radical Paris exhibition
LES BAINS DES DOCKS Sober on the outside, bright, light, and inviting on the inside, this unique aquatic centre overlooking the Bassin de l’Eure was created by Jean Nouvel and inspired by Roman baths. Includes a 50m swimming pool.
www.les-bains-des-docks.com
alongside Degas and Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley. One unimpressed critic described the event as the ‘Exhibition of the Impressionists’ and the name stuck. The artists went from strength to strength and today Le Havre has one of the best collections of Impressionist art anywhere in France. So where to head fi rst? Towers always catch my eye, so I made fi rst for St Joseph’s Church, visible from all over the city. Considered to be Perret’s masterpiece, the octagonal lantern tower, 107m high, is supported on a square base shaped as a Greek cross, a landmark for seafarers and city explorers alike. Step inside and it’s even more stunning, the geometric interior featuring 12,786 stained glass windows in jewel-like panels by Marguerite Huré.
My next stop was the tower of the Town Hall, built between 1952 and 1958 on the site of the original Town Hall. Today it stands at the point where the old and new towns meet. Take the lift to the 17th fl oor for a seagull’s eye view over tree-lined parks and straight streets of straight buildings towards the blue of the Seine estuary and city docks. Between Place de l’Hôtel de Ville and the sea, look out for a curvaceous conical structure with a
❯❯ Feb/Mar 2023 FRANCE TODAY ❘ 45
IMAGES © OTAH, OFFICE DE TOURISME LE HAVRE, LUDOVIC MAISANT, HILKE MAUNDER, PHILIPPE BRÉ ARD
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