The document summarizes architectural styles found in Limoges, France. Half-timbered houses with wooden frames filled with materials like mud and straw are among the oldest structures in the city center. Granite stone houses are a traditional style, using stone quarried locally. The modern BFM library blends styles, housing an ancient mosaic and linking old and new parts of the building with an indoor garden. Near forests, circular dome-shaped Feuillardier houses made of interlaced wood provided shelter for workers. Trompe-l'oeil paintings, like one in Place de la Motte, use techniques to make two-dimensional images appear three-dimensional.

1. Architecture in
Limoges and
Limousin, France
Comenius project N&U 12-14
Collège Guy de Maupassant, Limoges

2. The oldest construction in the
center city : Half timbered houses.
— In this form of construction, the skeleton frame of the
building is made of timber (wood), usually oak.
— Half-timbered houses have exposed wood framing and the
spaces between the wooden timbers are filled with mud and
straw, brick, stone or wattle and daub, (the wattle is made by
weaving thin branches or slats between upright stakes). The
word colombage in French comes from the word colombe
which means, in 1334, doorjamb or doorpost. The word
Colombe comes from the Latin work column.
— Half timbered construction is a construction technique used
by the Romans and called opus craticium.
— The oldest half timbered constructions in Limoges are
located at rue de la Boucherie or Cour du Temple.

4. Mostly used construction :
Granite stone houses
— The traditional Limousin houses are low and solid,
built out of stone, mainly blocks of hewn granite.
The granite stone is a local stone. The granite has a
bluish, grayish or brownish tint to more or less
reddish depending on the quantity of iron oxide
within.
— The main quarry is at Saint Yrieix. The granite
stone is used to make decorative corner stones. It
is used in ornamental walls, or around a window
frame. The granite stones are also mixed together
to make a wall.

8. The BFM: the Multimedia
Francophone Library
— It is the city center main library, it opened in 1998
and it is made of granite, wood and glass. Within
the library there is a Gallo roman/ Ancient Roman
mosaic in its atrium (a large open space located
within the building), overlooked by a huge
rectangular reading room. There is also a huge
tapestry made of dark blue and golden thread,
hanging on the walls. There is also an indoor
garden with its glass roof that links the old and the
new building together.
—

9. In the BFM : an
ecological and modern
architecture whiwh ilnks
the past and the future.

11. Near the forest :
Feuillardier houses .
— Feuillard is a word that refers to a chestnut branch cut in
half and flattened.
— Feuillardier is a job which consists in making the
chestnut circle slats that are wrapped around wine
barrels. The feuillardier usually works in the forest where
he can find chestnut sprouts. He builds a hut or lodge in
the forest, which serves for both his workshop and his
accommodation when he is far from home. The frame of
the hut is made of interlaced and curved wood shaped
as a semi circular dome. It is usually about 2 meters
high, 3 meters wide and 4 meters long. It is then
covered with long wood chips. The whole structure is
15cm thick to ensure it is waterproof.

14. Trompe-l'œil
— (French for “fools the eye.") is an art technique involving realistic
imagery in order to create an optical illusion. It makes a two-
dimensional work appear in 3D. Paints, chalks and spray paints
can be used to make a trompe l’oeil. The most famous trompe
l’oeil in Limoges is located in Place de la Motte. It is a reminder
of the History of Limoges and the Limousin region from the
Middle Ages up to now and a tribute to the History of the city of
Limoges and the Limousin region through the ages. Many
elements of the region are represented on that magnificent
trompe l’oeil: including its renowned porcelain, a basket ball that
stands for the CSP (Cercle Saint Pierre), the circus of Nexon, a
half timbered house and a house made with granite. In one of
the windows on the left one can see the famous painter Auguste
Renoir, born in Limoges and on the right the patron saint of the
goldsmiths who is also the patron saint of the Limousin region,
he christened the region and saved the population from the Mal
des Ardents in the year 1000.

15. Painted wall
« Trompe l’œil »

16. Credits :
— Logo : by Marius Bossis
— Trompe l’œil : by lycée Jean Monnet, Limoges
— All photos are taken by the students : thanks to
Anissa Mediouni, Rébecca Durant, Emma Vergt,
Sandie Leymarie, Anthony Manot, Mathis Hartman,
Jonathan Moussault, Marco Piégay and Marius
Bossis.