Page 207 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - South Africa

THE C APE WINELANDS  205

Franschhoek’s French Heritage

Franschhoek is a charming little country town with a distinctly French character.
Wine-making traditions introduced by the early French Huguenot settlers are still
pursued by viticulturists with surnames such as Malherbe, Joubert and du Toit.
Restaurants such as Le Quartier Français and La Petite Ferme offer Provençale cuisine
in light-filled, airy interiors, while Chez Michel serves delicacies including escargots,
and Camembert marinated in Calvados brandy. Architecturally, the influence of French
Classicism is evident in the graceful lines of the historic buildings. A good example is
the Huguenot Memorial Museum, which was based on a design by the 18th-century
French architect Louis Michel Thibault.
Freedom of religion is symbolized by
the dramatic central figure at the
Huguenot Monument, which depicts
a woman holding a Bible in her right
hand and a bro ken chain in her left.

Refined classic gables like
that of the Huguenot
Memorial Museum replaced
the Baroque exuberance of
earlier gables.
The tricorn was Mother-of-pearl buttons on
Powdered wig worn by gentlemen. garments were very fashionable.
The French Huguenots
After King Louis XIV of France revoked
the Edict of Nantes in 1685, countless
French Huguenots were forced to flee
to Protestant countries. The Dutch East
India Company’s offer of a new life at
the Cape of Good Hope was eagerly
accepted by some 270 individuals.

Many Khoi were Hoop skirts were reinforced by stiff
employed as slaves. petticoats made from whalebone.
Grape presses like this one, which stands
outside the Huguenot Memorial Museum,
were used by the French settlers to
produce the first wines of the region.

Restaurants in Franschhoek
exude typical French joie de vivre
and ambience.
Rocco Catoggio (1788–1858),
a settler from Italy, who is depicted
here with his grandson Rocco
Cartozia de Villiers, married into a
prominent Huguenot family.

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