Take a Ferry… to Le Havre

We were interested to hear that from the summer there will be a new daily ferry service from Newhaven to Le Havre, as part of the LDA takeover of the Transmanche ferry company. The service will run in the summer only, and replace one of the four Newhaven services.

Le Havre is an interesting city which was added to Unesco’s prestigious World Heritage List in 2005. UNESCO chooses the world’s most beautiful and interesting sites to be included on its list, either because of their natural or architectural beauty. Florence, Bath, Budapest and the Grand Canyon are included. Le Havre was an interesting and rather controversial choice - its administrative and cultural centre was heavily bombed by the Allies in WW2 and 80% of its buildings were destroyed. 5,000 died and 80,000 were left homeless. A massive reconstruction plan was devised under the architect Auguste Perret, and implemented between 1945 and 1964. The result - a triumph for organised urban regeneration - was a concrete city built in Perret’s interpretation of the neo-classical style. St Joseph’s church, the most recognisable building in the city, completed in 1957, is a neat stalacmite of rationalist symmetry with a fascinating and well-lit neo-Gothic interior. Walking through the town is an eerie experience, a 50’s vision of the future, all in reinforced concrete. Not to everyone’s taste, then, but worth a visit. It’s as if the Soviet Union had got it all right, or Alphaville had come true. DL