And here I take you again back to my nostalgic sentimental Yvelines. This is a very small village off the beaten path of my road warrior trails, and worth a detour for its unique aspect of the real French way of life, and museum. I found me a picture passing by in my cd rom vault that should be in my blog for you and me, Therefore, let me tell you on this is Vicq 78 !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The village of Vicq is located in the Yvelines department no 78, in the Île-de-France region of my belle France, It is 7 km from Montfort-l’Amaury, 28 km from Versailles, 25 km from Rambouillet, and 456 km km from my current home. I took my road warrior trails getting on the N12 dir Houdan/Dreux by Méré get off on the D76 ,then right on the D42 (rue Grande Rue) to Vicq, The housing is concentrated in the village center, along the RD 42, road , and in the hamlet of La Bardelle, on the RD 76 road. It is served mainly by the D76 road which crosses the village, and connects it to the N12, near the Méré service station, then to Montfort-l’Amaury, and towards Auteuil and the D11 road, then to Thoiry. The D42 road connects the village to Neauphle-le-Vieux then Villiers-Saint-Frédéric , Boissy-sans-Avoir then Garancières. All wonderful couintry road to see the best of my France.
For a small village it packs a lot , however, on my road warrior trails passed by it to see the Church Saint Martin, built in stone dating from the 13C. Bell tower in the form of a square tower with corner buttresses and a four-sided slate roof. The bell dating from 1550 is said to be the oldest in Yvelines. The church dedicated to Saint Martin (315-397), the great evangelist of Gaul. His patronage is an indication of antiquity, although the oldest text of the diocese of Chartres indicates 1116 as the date of creation of the parish. The bell tower base and some reused elements remain from this period. The 13C bays once opened the bell tower but are now walled up. The upper part under the bell chamber dates from the 15C. The 4-sided slate roof is much more recent: early 20C. The bells are accessed by an external spiral staircase. Apart from the bell tower, the current church dates from the late 17C. It was probably built on the site of its predecessor. The Gothic doorway, surmounted by the 16C stone equestrian statue of Saint Martin, is a preserved part of it. Measuring 26 meters long and 8 meters wide, the nave is preceded by a vast porch, also called a “caquetoire.” It is extended by the sacristy, which spans the width of the chevet. The vault, once paneled, is plastered under a roof frame. The beautiful oak woodwork, carved around 1754/1755 forms an exceptionally complete example, including the altarpiece with two Corinthian columns, the pulpit, the churchwardens’ pew, and the confessional. The panels on either side of the altarpiece, depicting Saint Martin as a bishop, are carved with trophies and liturgical objects of the same craftsmanship as the woodwork sculptures. The stonework of the high altar of the old 13C church has been preserved, adorned with beautiful woodwork in the classical Versailles style. The paintings on the devotional altars, at the entrance to the choir, marked by the curial stalls, depict one of Saint Nicholas, the wonderworking saint venerated since the Middle Ages in all country churches, and the other the mystical marriage of Saint Catherine, a copy of a Correggio. It is thanks to the Phélipeaux de Pontchartrain, who played a very important role in the reconstruction of the parish churches of their domain, that Vicq benefited from the royal woodwork. All text taken from City church info.
Other things to see here are the Merovingian necropolis discovered in the 19C excavations with approximately 5,000 tombs. 2,000 of these were excavated, yielding numerous objects such as coins, jewelry, pottery, and more. It is one of the largest Merovingian necropolises in Europe, excavated between 1976 and 1987 , The Chapelle Saint-Jacques in the hamlet of La Bardelle. All that remains of the well-maintained chapel, still used for open-air services, is the back wall with a niche; a statue has been installed there as well as a small altar; the side walls have been leveled and made even. Today, the City/Town Hall is located in the former school premises. Originally, the school was located in the room where the current City/Town Hall is located. The new school was built in 1956 on the other side of the building and operated from 1957 to 1996. Today, the school is used for meetings, associations, and other purposes, while the covered courtyard is used for the Vicq Festival Committee’s festivities.
One of the things worth coming back for and i will eventually is the Museum of Naive Art, a library of the au Fil des Pages network , The International Museum of Naive Art (Midan) was inaugurated in 1973, in the country house of Max Fourny and his wife, the painter Françoise Adnet. The objective of this museum is to highlight and develop the current collection of more than 1,500 works ,to which more than 500 works from the former Bages Museum of Naive Art were added in 2004, to integrate it into the regional cultural context, but also to raise its audience by holding exhibitions at the national and international level. The International Museum of Naive Art (MIDAN) is located in a farmhouse dating from 1777, adjoining the Vicq mill. The property was originally the country house of Max Fourny, an art lover and publisher, who decided in 1973 to turn it into a museum in order to house a nascent collection that would develop and take shape, over the years, in an international context. Starting out as a racing driver in the 1930s, Max Fourny was editor of the prestigious monthly magazine Arts et Industrie, dedicated to the materials and techniques of architecture and the decorative arts, between 1945 and 1955. He surrounded himself with collaborators such as Jacques-Émile Blanche, Jean Cocteau, Georges Waldemar, Camille Mauclair, Henry Clouzot, and Paul Valéry. In 1956, he founded the contemporary art magazine Prisme des Arts with Jean Cassou, René Huygue, and Pierre Restany, while from 1961 to 1975, he edited the Annuaire de l’Art International. It was from 1970 that he turned to naive art by publishing nine works: Traditional Song (1973), Proverbs as seen by Naive Painters (1973), Noah’s Ark and the Naive (1977), The Feast and the Naive (1979), Paradise and the Naive (1983), The Dream and the Naive (1983), The Criteriology of Naive Art (1984), The City and the Naive (1986) and The Tree and the Naive, which was completed in 1991, the year of his death. A year before his death, he published L’Album Mondial de la Peinture Naïve (Hervas editions), as well as the monograph of Ljubomir Milinkov, in collaboration with Gerard Xuriguera (French / English / Serbo-Croatian edition of Milic Rakic). By publishing these works illustrated by the Naïfs and by organizing temporary exhibitions in France and abroad, Max Fourny participated not only in the promotion and dissemination of naïve sculptors and painters, but above all in its development. Thus was born the Max Fourny collection as well as a remarkable publishing fund. All text taken from museum site.
The village of Vicq on its history : https://www.mairie-vicq-78.fr/histoire-vicq-commune-yvelines
The official Musée international d’art naïf (MIDAN): https://www.musee-vicq.fr/
The Yvelines dept 78 tourist office on the musée international d’Art Naif of Vicq: https://www.destination-yvelines.fr/musees-et-maisons-dhommes-celebres/musee-international-dart-naif-a-vicq/
The local Pays Houdanais (Houdan) tourist office on the museum : https://en.tourisme-pays-houdanais.fr/visites-activites-pays-houdanais/a-deux-pas-du-houdanais/6396482_musee-international-dart-naif-a-vicq/
There you go folks, another dandy off the beaten path small village in my sentimental Yvelines. Nice memories of my road warrior trails in the area with the family and always looking forward to be back, eventually. Again, hope you enjoy this post on this is Vicq 78 !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels , good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 