Not Your Ordinary School Building

The school building, the Hotel De La Thamumassiere, is one of the town’s old and historic buildings. (It is on the walking tour of the city and the street behind it is named for it.  It was built just before the 1600s.  It was used by the family that originally built it until it was sold in 1901.  (Hotel then just meant large building not an actual hotel as we know it.)  It was the office of a bank until 2001 or 2003 when Coeur de France bought it.  As a result of this continuous thread, the building is preserved well and in many area is as it was in the beginning.  (I don't have pictures that do the outside justice, but there is one at the top of the blog.)



Piece of the Bastille



Last week Gerard, co-proprietor of the school, gave a wonderful tour to the students.  Through this tour,  we were able to learn about the building’s history and see the building from top to bottom.  I mean litterally, we went to the attic and the basement.  (Okay, everything except the little tower.) l will attempt to retell a little of the history and show you some of the items we saw.  However, I did not take notes during the tour so I am basing this one memory so please forgive me if some dates are a little fuzzy.

I mentioned one family had owned the building for centuries.  A man married into the family.  A man married into this family and became royalty and was given the Hotel de la Thaumassiere to live in.  When the French revolution occurred, it was suddently not so good to be royalty.  He worked hard to be a man of the people.  He obtained a small piece of the Bastille when it was destroyed.    He placed this on the outside of the building with a plaque explaining what it was as a way of proving his common man credentials.  It remains there today as does the family coat of arms.

Also on the outside are some gargoyles representing important things.  One is a wine maker and one a wine taster. 

But for me, the real thrill was the inside of the building. I love the mosaic floor, which appears to be from the orgin of the building.  It is beautiful mosaic with pieces from a nearby town that still makes them today.  The school is on the lower floor so I see that regularly.  In one of my classrooms there is a beautiful mantle.  Above the school are three apartments.  The view from their windows is extraoridinare.  In some of the rooms, the old oak floors remain.  Original shutters are on the windows, but are in need of repair.

Attic & Clock Rewinding Mechanism

On another upper floor that is currently being used for storage there is the original bank counter with a marble top.  It is beautiful.  It was noted, of course this isn’t really old as it is only from the 1900s.  I guess when the building is 300 years older than the counter, the counter doesn’t really seem old.

The attic was a special treat for me.  You can see a clock on the outside of the buidling.  In the attic you can see the actual insides of clock.  It still works. It rewinds itself twice per day.  In the pictures you can see the inside and the weight used to rewind it.  How amazing a clock this old still works!

Also in the attic you can see the buildings beams.  They are made of chestnut and to this day there are no bugs in the attic because of this wood.  Also in the attic you can see the clothes line where people hung the clothes to dry and some old French flags.

We also went to the cellar.  In some ways this is like the cellar in my grandmother’s house.  There are nasty steps to get to it, cobwebs and coal.  But in this basement you can see hooks from the 16^th century and the old lighters used to light all the lights in the building before electricity. 

It was fascinating to see all aspects of this building and especially to hear the history of it.  It is fortunate that when the bank was selling the building someone with an appreciation for history of the building purchased it.  Hearing Gerard talk about the building and its history, it is clear he is passionate about  preserving the history.  And his willingness to spend so much time to share it with the students is another example of the many ways Coeur de France makes the experience in Sancerre unique.