Over the long weekend, roomie Grace, Caitlin (her friend from home whom I am so happy to know now since she is pretty awesome), and I took a trip to Annecy France. I have been looking forward to our long weekend becuase I knew it would be a great time to relax and do a bit of my own exploring while I am here in Europe. And oh my goodness this weekend trip has ended up being so much better than I could have imagined. We have all been having so much fun! Between the cute shops and bars and the incredible mountains behind Lake Annecy, we could not have picked a better place to travel. I could make a million blog posts on all we did here, but today I am going to focus on the Museum at the Annecy Chateau since that is where we visited today.
The Chateau was built over the period of five centuries. This means that there are obvious differences in its architectural configuration. Starting in the 12th century, tall circular towers were built as a sign of feudal power. In the 14th and 15th centuries, an addition of taller towers were developed which would have helped in the defense of the chateau by giving guards a better vantage point to shoot arrows at any incoming enemies. As the medieval period came to an end, a more hospitable atmosphere was created as the chateau follows French Renesiacne architecture with larger dwelling areas and common rooms for mealtime with the court members.
In addition to the incredible architecture we saw here, there were also a lot of art exhibits included in the museum. There were really interesting modern art representations of the built environment versus the natural environment surrounding Annecy. This was one of my favorite parts as I am very passionate about preserving both the natural parts of our earth as well as the human-made parts. The environmental archeology exhibit was a great way to include the importance of the physical land Annecy was built on, and how it has given back to its inhabitants since the Neolithic Era.
One of the other reasons I loved this museum was because of its dedication to its work. As someone who can not read French, there were not many signs I could comprehend as we walked through the different exhibits. However, there were several signs that had an English translation as well as immersive activities that you did not even need a language for. For example, there were puzzles of paintings, books to flip through, and artistic videos of natural landscapes to watch instead of read.
Furthermore, there was a section of the museum where many historic pieces of furniture were stored in preparation for another exhibit currently being developed. There was a sign stating how museums are living organisms and I could not agree more. A museum is made to capture what living history looked like. This means that there is more of an emphasis on recreating a historic space as it would have been used as opposed to displaying an array of objects. For example, instead of having a table on show, there would be a table set with plates, cutlery, prop food, chairs, and proper lighting to give the ambiance of mealtime in the 15th century. The fact that this museum provides visitors with information on their plans for future exhibits was very intriguing and inspiring to me as someone who wants to work in museums.
Overall, this Annecy trip has been one of the most beautiful, wonderful, and memorable weekends of my life and I am so grateful to be here with friends and explore its culture and history!
