Download or read book The Most Beautiful Villages of France written by Dominique Repérant and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 1990 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is a visual celebration of France's most beautiful and perfectly preserved medieval villages. Spectacular colour photographs capture their regional ambience and special character, while detailed texts explain foundation of each village and the growth of the community. The demands of defence and trade intertwine, from the walled bastides of the Southwest with their great market squares, to the hill-top refuges of the Mediterranean, precariously perched and turned towards the sun. Each village is a harmonious marriage of architecture and landscape : the ancient timber buildings of Saint-Véran are surrounded by alpine forests; the startlingly rosy village of Collanges-la-Rouge is named after the local red sandstone of which it is made. Here too are Mont-Saint-Michel, Vézelay and Conques, where settlements cluster around majestic monuments from the Middle Ages. Complementing the selection of villages is a list of nearby hotels and restaurants. An extended list of protected villages will prove a useful guide for travelers to France and for all those with an interest in the preservation of architectural heritage.