Cross Gargantua, and the Abbey of Thetheme ...
Some places express a blossoming humanism, where one breathes the sky and the earth, the spirit of freedom, ancestral roots, the winds of discovery, eyes in the clouds and a glass in hand...
Personally, this is what I feel at La Devinière, neither castle nor thatched cottage, a "house in the fields" so well set in the middle of this peaceful landscape, and of which Rabelais made the natural setting for the adventures of his fantastic characters.
He is there, and so are they!
The Rabelais Museum...
You will be reminded, of course, of this founding text: "Their whole rule was based on this clause: 'do what you will', for free, well-born, well-educated people, living in honest company, have by nature an instinct and a spur that always pushes them towards virtue and away from vice. All the rest is there, the rebirth, the lights, etc.,
You will also be invited to discover the different buildings along a scenographic tour and then, since it is a museum, you will discover rare editions, very old engravings, portraits (including a Matisse, anyway...) all the while retracing the highlights of Rabelais' life and evoking his work, and the new ideas that he brought to life...
All this is very well done, and very interesting, but I must admit that, beyond the material and concrete elements presented, I prefer the reverie that the place arouses!
Around the museum...
The museum has contributed to the implementation of a geolocalised sound track between Rabelais' birthplace, which became, in the novel, that of Grandgousier, and Brother Jean des Entommeures' Seuilly Abbey. A joyful sensory and literary discovery!
But you can also go even further... Not only did Rabelais use his house as a setting, but, beyond that, he placed many imaginative facts in very many real places. This is how the association "les amis de Rabelais et de la Devinière" proposes a vast itinerary, entitled "how Rabelais visits, drinks and devours himself"... quite a programme!
On this subject, I can't help but mention that it will obviously be possible for you to buy some divine bottles of a small, very nice, "easy to drink" AOC red Saumur!
Musée Rabelais
4, rue de la Devinière
37500 Seuilly
Tél. : 02 47 95 91 18
https://www.musee-rabelais.fr/
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
(free version) ***
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