A few words about Limoges

Capital of the Limousin region, a city with about 137,000 population, Limoges is famous for its enamel, its oak barrels and, of course, its porcelain.
Limoges first emerged as a Roman town called Augustoritum. It had large arenas and public baths. In the 4th century, St. Martial evangelized the region. The Abbey of St. Martial was probably established in the 9th century by the ecclesiastics who served the saint's crypt. It grew very powerful - to the point that during the Middle Ages, Limoges actually consisted of two towns: the "City" and the "Chateau" ("Castle"). The latter belonged to the Abbots of St. Martial until their political rule came to an end in 1371as King Charles V united the Chateau with the royal demesne. In the 13th century, the Abbey possessed the second largest library in France after Cluny Abbey, about 450 volumes. Louis XV bought 200 of them in 1730, and today they constitute one of the most valuable collections in the National Library in Paris. Many of the manuscripts, decorated with fine miniatures, were written in the abbey itself. The Abbey also played an important role in medieval music. The St. Martial school of composition created a large body of plainchant and an early form of polyphony.
The city's architectural monuments include the Gothic St. Etienne cathedral (13th c.), the church of St. Pierre du Queyroix and the church of St. Michel des Lions.
Limoges prides itself as the capital of the "arts of fire" - enamel, porcelain and stained glass making - for a thousand years.
During the Middle Ages, the St. Martial Abbey was an important stopover at the Santiago de Compostella pilgrimage route. The demand for religious souvenirs gave a boost to craftsmanship, including silversmith's trade and enamel champleve on copper. Enamel workshops flourished, and masters proudly signed their works. In the champleve technique, compartments are formed in a copper plate, and are filled with enamel, a mixture of minerals and metal oxides that vitrifies when fired at very high temperature (about 800oC). The municipal Enamel Museum in Limoges has a wonderful collection of enamel masterpieces, representing different periods and styles.
Stained glass work was connected with the development of medieval Gothic art. In Limoges, beautiful examples can be seen at the train station, the St. Michel and the St. Pierre churches.
The porcelain industry developed in the 19th century, after the discovery of kaolin in nearby Saint-Yrieix-La-Perche: a fine clay that is indispensable for the production of hard-paste porcelain. Hard-paste porcelain is bright white and translucent. The new industry flourished thanks to the foresight of the economist Baron Turgot who saw in it an opportunity to give a boost to an impoverished and isolated region. The hand-painted, elaborately decorated, gold-trimmed dinnerware, trays, boxes, etc. are an irresistible attraction to fine porcelain collectors worldwide. Precious sets are passed down from generation to generation. The pieces are marked "Limoges porcelain" and are often signed by the artist who decorated them. The factories in fact produced elaborately moulded, undecorated white pieces called "blancs" that were then sent to decorating studios. The quality of the decoration is decisive in assessing the value of an example of Limoges porcelain.
The locally produced oak barrels (Limousin oak) are used in Cognac production. The porous oak plays a special role in the development of the colour and the delicate flavour of the brandies from which Cognac is blended. To meet the very strict requirements for being sold as Cognac, the brandy has, among other things, to be aged at least two and a half years in finest quality oak barrels. During that time, a sizable part of the water and alcohol will evaporate through the oak - it is called "part des anges", i.e "angels' share" of the divine beverage.