Alsace is the
Germanic region of France. It is a region lying on the west bank of the river
Rhine, between the Rhine and the Vosges mountains. To the north and east it
shares a border with Germany; to the south with German-speaking Switzerland,
and to the west with Lorraine and Franche Comté.
There has been and there remains today a strong Germanic
influence on the architecture found in Alsace. Alsace house types and the materials used can
be categorized in the wide German «pan de bois» (half-timbering) architectural
family. This architectural family uses many local symbols and decorations.
These symbols appear on porches, doors and on the pieces of wood used to make
the half-timbered walls.
While today people are free - within limits - to choose
what colour to paint a building, in the past the colours had a significance,
and town houses, which often had shops or boutiques on the ground floor, were
painted according to the type of shop - bakeries in one colour, butchers in
another, shoemakers in a third colour, and so on. Today that is no longer the
case, but the tradition of brightly coloured half-timbered houses has become
firmly established as the local Alsatian style.
Unlike the houses found in the villages of neighbouring
Lorraine, those of the Alsatian villages are always independent from each
other. They never share a common wall and each house serves as a unique entity
while still integrating itself harmoniously with the whole village. The façade
facing the street is the narrowest.
Due to the climate the roof of the typical Alsace house
is predominantly steeply pitched (up to 60 degrees) and the typical roof
covering is flat clay tiles (tuiles écaille alsaciennes) which are specific to
the Alsace and neighbouring areas of north eastern France.
This postcard came from Julie G. (Blodwyn) (21 January
2015) Swap-bot.
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