Montmorillon - The City of Books

The nearest town to me here at La Macherie is Montmorillon, its where I go to buy food, occassionally socialise and one of the paces we perform when Jane and Mark are in town. With only some 7000 souls  inhabiting the place its hardly a buzzing metroplolis but it has to be said (and it's been said many times) that Montmorillon is something of a jewel in the Vienne crown.

Montmorillon is steeped in medieval history with many historic sites includig the Octagon, an 11th Century funeral chapel built by Crusaders,the Chapelle St Laurent and St Chatherine's Crypt with its fine frescoes, and its 12th Century bridge, le Vieux-Pont. It's main claim to fame however is it's association with books with a whole quarter of the town given over to the glorification of the written word. This area of the town, penned Le Cite De'Ecrit, is a major tourist attraction with visitors flocking to browse the many antique book shops (there's even a typewriter museum!) and hosts a yearly international book fair every June. Remarkably this area of the town was a crumbling area of dereliction before 2000 and a major investment and restoration project created this atmospheric gem of a place.

I went into Montmorillon the other evening, not to buy food nor to socialise, but to take advantage of some glorious Autumn sunshine and take a few pics - hard not to go for the obvious 'touristy' type shots and some of these most definitely are just that but one or two of these I think captures 'Magic of Montmorillon'

I should of course know what all of these buildings are called but shame upon shame I dont ... maybe you do? In either case I'll label them when tine allows!