Wednesday 4 December 2013

Bordeaux - Day 2 (afternoon cont.) - The 30th of November 2013


(...)

La Place de Quinconces, said to be one of the largest city squares in Europe is what we visited next, having been particularly impressed by its large pedestal framed with two basins which I didn't resist photographing from all possible angles. It was erected between 1894 and 1902 in memory of the Girondists who fell victim during the French Revolution. 

The two basins are decorated with bronze horses (said to have been removed during the German occupation of France in World War II) and troops being surmounted by a large column with a statue on its top representing the spirit of Liberty. 

Among some of the noteworthy statues stand the triumph of the Republic and of the Concorde, the city of Bordeaux sitting on the prow of a ship with a cornucopia, the Dordogne and Garonne rivers,  Ignorance, Lie and Vice, as well as the representation of Happiness in the quadriga-horse fish statue.







































The sky was unexpectedly overcast and it felt like it could rain any time, although the weather forecast we had listened to earlier didn't sustain that idea, we nevertheless decided to head towards the Cathedral taking advantage of the fact that it would be open and in case it started raining effectively we would have something interesting to do without having to get uncomfortable under the changing weather.








(To be continued)








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