Page 113 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

THE V AR AND THE ILES D ’ H Y ERES  111

Draguignan’s 19th-century
boulevards. At the end of his
plane-tree-lined allées d’Azémar,
there is a Rodin bust of the prime
minister Georges Clemenceau
(1841–1929) who represented
Draguignan for 25 years.
The main interest lies in the
pedestrianized old town. Its
24-m (79-ft) clockless clock
tower, built in 1663, stands on
the site of the original keep
and there is a good view from
its wrought-iron campanile.
The Eglise St-Michel, in the
place de la Paroisse, contains a Pierre de la Fée, the giant dolmen outside Draguignan
statue of St Hermentaire, first
bishop of Antibes. In the 5th 8Les-Arcs-sur- after Roseline de Villeneuve,
century he slew a local dragon, Argens daughter of Arnaud de
giving the town its name. Villeneuve, Baron of Arcs.
Draguignan has two good Road map D4. * 7,153. £ @ Legend has it that when
local museums. The Musée des n Place du Général de Gaulle Roseline’s father stopped her
Arts et Traditions Provençales (04 94 73 37 30). ( Thu. while taking food to the poor,
is concerned with the region’s ∑ tourisme-dracenie.com her provisions turned into roses.
social and economic She entered the abbey in 1300
history. It occupies Wine centre for the Côtes de and later became its abbess.
buildings that date Provence (see pp112–3), Les Arcs The Romanesque Chapelle
back to the 17th cen- has a medieval quarter, Le Parage, Ste-Roseline contains the well-
tury. Regional country based around the 13th-century preserved body of the saint in
life is illustrated Château de Villeneuve. The Eglise a glass shrine. There is also a
using reconstructed St-Jean-Baptiste (1850), in the famous Chagall mosaic (see p31).
kitchens and barns. rue de la République, contains
Exhibits include beau- a screen by Louis Bréa (1501). R Chapelle Ste-Roseline
tiful hand-painted East of Les Arcs on the D91 RD 91, Les Arcs-sur-Argens. Tel 04 94
wooden horses. is the 11th-century Abbaye de 73 37 30. Open Tue–Sun pm.
The Musée Ste-Roseline, which was named Closed mid-Dec–Jan, public hols. 7
Municipal d’Art et
d’Histoire shows
local and regional
St Hermentaire archaeology as
slaying the dragon well as eye-catching
collections of both
ceramics and furniture. The
adjoining library houses a
lavishly illuminated 14th-century
manuscript of the Roman de
la Rose, considered to be the
most important book of courtly
love (see p146) in France (by
appointment only).
Northwest of the town
on the D955 is the enormous
prehistoric dolmen Pierre de
la Fée, or Fairy Stone (see p43).
E Musée des Arts et Traditions
Provençales
15 rue Joseph-Roumanille.
Tel 04 94 47 05 72. Open Tue–Sat.
Closed 1 May, 25 Dec. & = 7 ltd.
E Musée Municipal d’Art et
d’Histoire
9 rue de la République. Tel 04 98 10
26 85. Closed for restoration until
2020. 7 Mosaic by Marc Chagall (1887–1985) in the Chapelle Ste-Roseline