FRANCE IN 152 VILLAGES
From Provence to Bretagne, from Pays-Basque to Périgord and to Alsace, from Normandie to Roussillon, fortified villages, villages clutched at a rock or flat landscape villages, actor of eventful stories or lowly witnesses of the everyday life, the Most Beautiful Villages of France are as many pages as its past includes.
Stone or brick walls, towers and vaults, lanes and stairs, gardens and tiny squares in a symphony of colors or a sternness which is always harmonious, the Most
Beautiful Villages of France are also an open book on an architecture without architects and a great ecology
lesson.
In 1982, Charles Ceyrac, Lord Mayor of
Collonges-la-Rouge, in Corrèze
decided to bring together those
villages which had very often been
overlooked and neglected. His will was
to preserve, renovate, and promote
this exceptional patrimony on a
national scale.
Our
deliberate and passionate ambition is
to avoid the traps of soulless,
dead villages turned into museums,
slowly sinking into oblivion. We
want the villages to renew with their
future, we wish to bring back the life
around the fountains or to the village
squares, under the shade of their
centenary plane or linden trees.
PATRIMONY
AND PROMOTION
"Les
plus beaux villages de France"
is a trade mark which gathers 152
villages in a national network. These villages have in common either
their location in the countryside as
well as a natural patrimony or an
exceptional architecture; the status
of the Association is to preserve,
promote and enhance those
characteristics.
To
sum it up, what we aim at is to
transform these villages into places
for excellency, to enhance their
identity as well as their diversity.
We want to use their image and their
notoriety to build a new and stronger
economy. This economy based on a
partnership between the Locals and the
French as well as the foreign
clientele should enable one to enjoy
the discovery of a living patrimony,
the hospitality and "art de
vivre".
Since
March 6th 1982, the Association has
thus patiently built a new form of
national interaction between the
municipalities. It contributes
to bring rural France to a place where
it can be envied, such a rural France
which still has a problem of image and
identification by the consumer.
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Interviews : Maurice CHABERT
Chairman
for "Les Plus Beaux Villages de
France"
Place du Château
F- 84220 GORDES
Ph (33) 4 90 72 02 08 - Fax (33)
4 90 72 04 39
Information :
Jean-Claude VALEIX
General
Delegate
for
"Les Plus Beaux Villages de
France"
14, avenue Marx Dormoy
F-63000 CLERMONT-FERRAND
Ph (33) 4 73 29 42 55 - Fax (33)
4 73 93 58 64
Office:
Corinne TRONCHE
Secretary
for "Les Plus Beaux Villages de
France"
(bookshop)
Rue de la Barrière
F- 19500 COLLONGES -LA-ROUGE
Ph. (33) 5 55 84 08 50 - Fax (33) 5 55 84 09 42
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To
this day, 152 villages are part
of the association and are allowed to use the
trademark and the logo "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France" (The Most Beautiful Villages of France)
All
concerned municipalities must have
less than 2000 souls. To be
classified the village must fulfill
some 27 criteria. An expert
reports on this.
The
criteria apply to the following
topics:
. value and diversity of the
patrimony,
.
quality of the architecture, of the town planning and
of the environment,
. a common will (from the
Municipality to the shopkeepers, and
the inhabitants) to create
excellency in the village.
To be registered, the village has to
comply with a Quality Charter. The
Association controls the village
renovation plans and its development.
Every 5th year, a new experts
meeting confirms or cancels the
classification of each village.
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