Hi spiders I discovered last year when stopping off in Calais that there was to be a new purpose built museum to be called Cite Internationale de la Dentelle et de la mode-Calais, dedicated to lace being built in the town. It is to chart the history of the lace makers of Calais, machine lace workers many of whom originally came from the Nottingham area. I was then told that it was due to open March of this year, so when my DH and I stopped off a couple of weeks ago I decided to check out progress.
At the tourist info office I was told it was now due to open in November this year, and there was an exhibition about the project at the Musee des Beaux Arts. We went along to visit, it is just across the small park form the Tourist info office, and have a look. I was able to pick up an 8 page A3 size pamphlet in French and English which gives a lot of detail about the project. We then decided to try and find the actual site of this new museum, not too difficult. It will be a huge complex some 2,500m sq of exhibition space, alongside the quayside in what was once the machine lace making area of Calais. They are renovating the former Boulart factory and extending it. Some 500m sq will be available for temporary exhibitions. It also seems that there has been some liason between Calais and Nottingham and a group from Calais visited the exhibition "The Lacemaker's Story" at Charnwood Museum, Loughborough last year.
From what we saw, I have to say I'm a little sceptical about whether it will
open in November or not. They were still tiling the roof, and of course I couldn't see inside, but it seemed that there is a heck of a lot of work still to do. Anyway, whenever it does open, it will be a fabulous place to visit with all kinds of wonderful things going on. Next door, well just round the corner I discovered Noyon - Boutique Dentelle on rue de Vic, absolutely masses of machine lace of all colours and widths, and some lovely sheer ribbons and some quirky lace items, a bit of an aladdin's cave. Great fun. Nicky in Suffolk - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
