Saturday 11 February 2012

Vintage hearts


If you walk along the streets of Bourges in central France, you will come across plenty of evidence of Jacques Coeur.   As you can see from this road name, he was the king's treasurer in the 15th century, a position of great importance. and his surname translates as "heart".

His house in the centre of Bourges remains today and reflects that great importance.  On it you'll notice carving of hearts and shells.  The meaning of the hearts is obvious enough, but the shells are there as a play on words: Jacques in coquilles St Jacques meaning scallops.


A lady, maybe Madame St Jacques, leaning from a balcony with a carved and [vintage] heart below.


A [vintage] heart with scallop shells either side, on the same building as above.


A two-in-one post for the Photo Hunts. 


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7 comments:

  1. Very interesting and a nice combination of both themes !

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  2. This is very cool. I love carvings like that.

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  3. Very interesting post, A.! Re the statue of the woman on the balcony: she looks like she's dressed like as a nun... or is that how women of a certain age dressed in that era?

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    Replies
    1. I believe it's how they dressed - a 15th century coif. some were quite elaborate with "wings".

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