aixcentric

Firstly – at last – the third and final façade of the place d’Albertas is going to be renovated.  It’s a long, long story, worthy of a soap opera, which La Provence calls ‘Ubuesque’  (it’s here: http://www.laprovence.com/article/edition-marseille/3820062/la-place-dalbertas-a-la-peine.html)

Anyway, a solution has been found and the work will start in autumn 2017.

The new bells are in a side chapel on show for visitors

And over at St Jean de Malte, there is a chance to see the three new bells which have been made for the church, before they are hoisted up into the bell-tower.  It’s a fascinating story as there were 4 bells from 1300 until the Revolution when Napoleon was fighting the English at Toulon – he ordered all the local bells to be melted down to make cannon.  St Jean de Malte kept one – and that’s the one that has been ringing <re> ever since.

Now three new ones have been funded by 2 local organisations and a family for which their names have meaning:  Jeanne is 780kg and will sound <fa>, Gérard is 525kg and will ring <sol> and Augustine is 380Kg and is <la>.

In a neat twist, the Mayor of Toulon has contributed bits from the old cannon to be amalgamated with the bronze for the new bells which were produced in Savoie.

They will be hoisted up the belltower in the winter – so we have a great opportunity right now to see these bells before they are out of sight for the next few centuries.