Step into the age of Enlightenment in a luxury 5-star hotel in Provence

Interiors of a private house in Provence

La Mirande in Avignon is famous for its intricately renovated interiors. No expenses were spared to carefully restore what had survived from the past and to replenish, where necessary, the features of the age of enlightenment for the revival of a nobleman’s townhouse in the 18th century, located in the heart of Provence. In a brilliant endeavour, a secret private place was converted into a luxurious 5-star hotel without intruding on the soul of the building. Each guestroom has all the luxury amenities you would expect, but invisible if modern technology is involved as the mirror televisions of the mantelpieces. Even some former servants’ quarters, downstairs, were preserved and contribute to the activities offered.

A tribute to the beautiful cotton prints
en vogue in the 18th century, an ode to joy!

Twenty six exquisitely intimate bedrooms individually decorated with historic French cotton prints. La Rivière enchantée, La Roseraie, Le Grand Corail, Le Bambou, La Corne d’abondance, Le Perroquet, Le Singe savant..., the very names of the great cotton prints of the past are an invitation to travel. A constant exoticism pervades the heritage of the rooms’ wall hangings, which have become historical monuments. A heritage that takes us back through time to the 18th century, the century of Enchantment, when the Anglo-Chinese gardens made their appearance with their attendant literature full of the pleasures of love and nature. Those were the times when the diversity of landscapes and the great variety of art and knowledge were discovered. The Jesuits described China and the Far East, and European high society was enthusiastic about the new forms of beauty from distant lands. Indiennes, calico prints that were once imported from India but since 1760 produced by the Royal Manufacture at Jouy, near Versailles, were all the rage being reinterpreted and developed according to the canons of the time.

Indiennes continue to be printed; today, thanks to the copperplates and designs salvaged when the Jouy Manufacture closed down in 1843, it is still possible to faithfully restore the décor of historical monuments or to create interiors with an 18th century atmosphere.

La Mirande is one such place, with a selection of masterpieces based on the original cartoons, identical to those admired by our ancestors. In fact, this is one of the few areas where what is new is neither a reproduction nor a pastiche. Present day prints are just as authentic as the old ones. They are based on the same models, and so to speak are additional specimens of a series begun long ago and miraculously preserved. The décor they produce is genuine.

By their presence they remind us of an art of living and thinking that remains to this day a matter for astonishment and admiration. The Age of Enlightenment is still considered to be one of the greater moments of French style and the most frequently invoked source of national identity. Although it was converted into a luxury 5-star hotel, La Mirande in Avignon remains a very French house reflecting Provence’s heritage, something unusual in the modern world melting pot.

In this contribution to our heritage we find a sort of echo of the appreciation of France by poets and writers, who cherished Voltaire and Rousseau, the Liaisons Dangereuses, and the hymns to freedom. Here, however, it is far from the din of battle, simply through the memory of the grace of living that, for some, existed before the times of revolutions.

“Steeped in history with its origins in the 14th century it is today all Dangerous Liaisons with its 18th century treasures hidden behind the baroque façade, a grand gracious private house with a deliciously exotic edge.” TATLER

Step into the age of Enlightenment in a luxury 5-star hotel in Provence

Interiors of a private house in Provence

A tribute to the beautiful cotton prints en vogue in the 18th century, an ode to joy!

A tribute to the beautiful cotton prints
en vogue in the 18th century, an ode to joy!