The house of the old Albi
by RicardMN Photography
Title
The house of the old Albi
Artist
RicardMN Photography
Medium
Photograph
Description
The house of the old Albi (French: La maison du vieil Albi), Albi, Tarn department, France.
Albi was built around the original cathedral and episcopal group of buildings. This historic area covers 63 hectares. Red brick and tiles are the main feature of most of the edifices. Along with Toulouse and Montauban, Albi is one of the main cities built in Languedoc-style red brick.
Situated in the heart of the Old Town (ironically known today as Castlenau or “new town”) at 1 rue Croix Blanche, the “house of the old Albi” is today home to the Association for the Preservation of Old Albi and houses their small museum. Of more interest to visitors are the films on Albi and its region showing on the top floor (in French only) and the house itself, a former medieval woad merchant’s house. This brick and timber building was open on its top floor to allow the drying out of the woad before it was made into woad balls for selling. Until the discovery of indigo towards the end of C16, woad (or “pastel” in French) was the only blue dye known in Europe. The woad would be crushed into small balls known as cocagnes, gaining for Albi the nickname “pays de cocagne” which today means “land of plenty.” Woad from the blue triangle of Toulouse, Carcassonne and Albi was considered the best in Europe. (Description from simonseeks.com)
Uploaded
April 30th, 2017
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