October 12, 2023
Les Baux-de-Provence
Today we went to the south to Les-Baux-de-Provence, and witnessed a sound and light spectacular inside an abandoned, cavernous quarry.
Les-Baux is the origin of the word bauxite actually, as this area was the source of a large bauxite mine - the mineral origin for aluminum.
You wind your way through the narrow streets continually going up. Lots of cute shops along the way, and probably swamped with people in the summer.
At the top of the town, you haven't finished climbing! There is a fortress above, and up you go past war engines - like the trebuchets below, and then a great view of the town from above. Built onto a hill with a cliff on the backside, it made for a very good fortress town I am sure. Not sure why a fortress town would have so many trebuchets, which are really an siege engine for breaking walls, not a defensive machine. Maybe they captured them from attacking armies.
The surrounding Provence countryside was very beautiful from this perspective.
But the real show occurred after lunch when we entered the old quarry. The stone was a blonde colour (as seen in the above photos of the town). Mounted projectors and arrays of hi-fidelity speakers made for an astounding show featuring - this year - the Dutch masters.
A good example is below with Starry Night where you can see they show portions of the painting, and have it moving. The images kept changing, the music was thrilling. Truly a moving experience.
We watched this for about 2 hours, wandering about the gigantic cavern with different images being displayed on each wall.
Each year is different, and I think it would be worth it to come back each year to see this! Apparently they have these shows in several places around the world, but often it is just in a theater type arrangement. It is hard to imagine another venue having the impact of this quarry.
If you want to see a 38s clip of the show that my wife took, click on the video I uploaded to youtube below. I hated to leave!
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