A Place In Front Of The Sea

AREMORICA is a region of contrasts. The name of what is today northwestern France (roughly the area of Brittany and Normandy) was mainly used by the Romans and means “place in front of the sea.”

The contrasts of this place result not only from the contrast between vast landscapes, widespread forests, and the enormous coastline but also from the different shapes of the coasts and the influence of the warm or cold ocean drifts of the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel.

The influence of Celtic culture permeates the landscapes and their architecture with a rather rugged charm, except for the almost Mediterranean splendor of plants and flowers in summer. The Romanesque churches seem ponderous and melancholic, their heavy weathering pretends primeval origins. The French later brought more gentle tones to the region, and so some fairy-tale castles and gardens mingle with the robust and grounded culture.

The wind, often mixed with sudden rain showers, bundles this region into a unique place, which reveals a lot about the rough forces of pure nature in conflict with people’s will to fight for their own place right here.