20 June 2007

Le Bastion, musée Jean Cocteau

The Bastion is a small fort, built in 1619 by Honoré II, Prince of Monaco, to defend the bay of Menton. Jean Cocteau, after he had decorated the Salle des Mariages, had the idea of restoring the abandoned fort as a setting for his work. The staircase, tapestry, pebble decoration were all designed by Cocteau himself. The Bastion is situated below the Old Town and in this photograph you are looking towards Italy. You can see photos of the inside of the building and some of Cocteau's work - here.

Discussions are now underway for a purpose-built Jean Cocteau museum which is to be built in front of the main market building. Many think this a good idea except the people who play boules - their club house and the area they play boules will disappear. They are anxiously waiting to hear where they will be rehoused. Progress?

5 comments:

  1. Woow! Looks like it came out of fairy tale!
    Great!

    Seda :)

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  2. Beautiful fort and surroundings.
    I'd love to spend a whole day here.
    And if our Bollywood Hindi film producers knew about it, I'm sure they would want to shoot a few shots of their movies here.
    Great shot.

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  3. Anonymous20 June, 2007

    Great building, fabulous details. I love the multi-colored tiles on the roofs and the pebble decorations.

    Too bad about the plan to destroy the playing field and clubhouse, though. Why can't they just share the space?

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  4. Thanks for pointing us to that link jilly. I agree with annulla, the multi coloured tiles on the roof are really nice.
    I love the inside as well, especially the walls.

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  5. Wow. What a beautiful fort and photo.

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