Royan, France by laurent girard

Public Story

Royan, France

Copyright laurent girard 2024

Updated Dec 2012

Location royan france

Topics Architecture, Documentary, Fine Art, Photography

the bombing of royan is one of my mother's earliest memory. as a four-year-old on January 5, 1945, she remembers watching the explosions from her house about 10 miles away as the largest town of the region was being obliterated from the map, with 2 raids of 350 bombers. howard zinn was there as a bombardier, he writes about it in his book "the bomb". as a child I used to play around the german bunkers on the beach. now i travel to royan once a year, early september when the tourists have gone. most of the houses are already closed by then, no one will return until the next summer. only the town remains it seems, a town with two types of architecture: houses from the turn of the 20th century left standing and the ones built after the war, with their typical 50's look.
a number of renowned architects have put their mark on different parts of royan, from the center to the seaside, and around the park. the old and the new cohabit along the beaches, almost all houses are kept up very close to their original look, one can feel a sense of pride walking along the street. royan is unique for its architecture, and the inhabitants do their part to preserve the history of their town. architects like louis simon, guillaume gillet, claude ferret or andré morisseau contributed to the reconstruction of royan, but over 150 architects in all rebuilt the town from the cathedral to the congress center, and from the market to the beach front.

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