Skywatch Friday.... Hôtel de Ganges

Early evening on Place de la Préfecture. The sky is still blue but the streetlights are on.

Skywatch Friday blogs

Le ciel est encore bleu sur ma photo alors que l'éclairage public est déjà allumé. L'hôtel de Ganges, dont la construction fut décidée par le cardinal de Bonzi pour sa maitresse Madame de Ganges, abrita la Préfecture longtemps (maintenant un bâtiment plus moderne a été construit derrière celui-ci).

About books

The main bookshop in Montpellier is the Librairie Sauramps. The one in the photo is the Librairie Gibert Joseph, which is part of a national group. Joseph Gibert set up his first bookshop in Paris in the 1880s. Our Gibert Joseph bookshop is located near the Hôtel de Ganges (the préfecture).

I wonder why they placed the family name before the Christian name when they chose the name of their bookshop! It is as if I decided to be called Rivet Marie, or if the "candidates" to the American presidential election were called Clinton Hillary or Obama Barack and McCain John. It would sound strange, wouldn't it?

At Gibert Joseph, they sell new books and used books (from €0.20) but they also buy the books you want to get rid of.

No need to say people spend hours before the stalls, in the sun.

There is no space left in front of the librairie Sauramps but it has a nice "branch" in the museum.

Hôtel de Ganges

I took this photo of the Hôtel de Ganges on July 14th (le 14 juillet). It had been decorated with dozens of French flags for the occasion, which seemed to me a little anachronistic as the drapeau tricolore had not yet been designed when the hôtel was built.

The Hôtel de Ganges dates back to the 17th century. It is the Cardinal de Bonzi who had it built for his mistress, Jeanne de Gévaudan, comtesse de Ganges. In the seventeenth century, and certainly before and after, cardinals could have mistresses. John Locke, whose Journal I have translated, reports it, adding that Bonzi had also a few "fine boys" in his suite.

Nowadays the hôtel houses the préfecture de région. It is also the résidence of the préfet.

I have just added the photo of the portraits of Bonzi and Mme de Ganges. I was unable to place it at the bottom of my post......