Jules Verne spirit is alive in the city of Nantes! - (Visiting Nantes #4 - Modern Nantes and the Quay)
 |
Why Jules Verne is alive in the French city of Nantes?
It is always interesting to visit the birth place of a great man, writer and explorer.
It is interesting because you can try to find in the town that was his birthplace what inspired the great man.
Nantes is the birthplace of Jules Verne.
Verne is generally considered a major literary author in France and most of Europe, where he had a strong influence on the literary avant-garde and on surrealism.
Born to bourgeois parents in the seaport of Nantes, Verne was trained to follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer, but quit the profession early in life to write for magazines and the stage.
He is the author of Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days.
It is along the banks of the Loire river that you can feel strongly the presence and the heritage of Jules Verne in today Nantes.
What are the "Machines de l'Isle"?
The Great Elephant and the other "Machines de l'Isle" situated along the river are a wonderful example and expression of the surrealist spirit of the french writer: you should absolutely visit them if you are in Nantes!
At the entrance of the large hangar where the huge mechanic elephant is housed a short explanation helps to understand and appreciate these wonderful machines:
"Les Machines de l’île is an unprecedented artistic project. Born from the imaginations of François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice, it is a blend of the invented worlds of Jules Verne, the mechanical universe of Leonardo da Vinci, and the industrial history of Nantes, on the exceptional site of the former shipyards".
The Anneaux de Buren, another unique sight in "modern" Nantes:
The Machines de l'Ile are not the only oniric sight along the La Loire River in Nantes.
Along the Quay des Antilles the famous Anneaux de Buren (Buren Rings) are a wonderful sight.
The artwork by Daniel Buren let you appreciate Nantes beautiful skyline, through these magic rings that at night are illuminated to give a different sight of the docks next to the famous Hangar 32, restaurants and pub trendy complex.
We hope you enjoyed these photos of Nantes.
Follow us:
- like our blog page on facebook so that you can read our posts when we will update this page
This post has been made thanks to Nina Latouille from Nantes.
Are you planning to travel in France?
Read more posts on our page Visit France.
Read more posts on our page Visit France.
Follow us:
- follow us on twitter so that we can tweet you updates
Want to know more about Nantes?
Read our posts:
Read our posts:
Follow us:
- follow us on twitter so that we can tweet you updates
- follow us on Google+1, clicking on the G+1 button on the right column of this page
- subscribe to our free newsletter: insert your email on the box on the right column on this page, so that you wil recieve the updates by email (note that when you subscribe you will recieve an email from "feedburner email subscription" asking you to confirm your subscription. Remember to confirm it and be aware that most of the time your email's filters will consider the confirmation email spam and so to find it and reply to it you have to look on your spam folder as well)