Le Havre

As a result of numerous air-raids during World War Two, the port of Le Havre lost its administrative and cultural center as well as much of its housing in the center of the city. 5000 people died and more than 80,000 people were left homeless. Reconstruction planning began in 1945 with Auguste Perret as chief architect and city planner.


Year Decision Comments
2005 Inscribed Reasons for inscription

Reviews

Margaret Gradwell (England):
I have now visited Le Havre twice. Neither occasion by choice as it was part of a cruise ship package. I can honestly say the city does not come under the heading of a re visit.
September 2001 brought us to the City on board the SS Norway, the ex SS France, Le Havre's own ship, the welcome, because of the date, was muted and we only spent a few hours in the city mainly because the French don't do Monday morning. As a group we were underwelmed with what we saw other than the gardens in front of the large central hotel.
A couple of years later we sailed in again on the Marco Polo and this gave us a day to 'chill out' and give the city a fair chance of endearing its self to us.
We walked from the main street all the way up to railway station and both came to the same conclusion of a dull, angular, dreary place it was.
Every so often we came across a traditional building which was like a breath of fresh air.
The need for quick build after the war took place in many cities but rather that celebrate the buildings most places took them down and moved on.
The white cone concrete thing, which is the cinema, is highly forgettable, the designer got good money for this!!
Back in the centre the whole place lacked a buzz but it was wall to wall top of the range shops-but few people.
Something positive - a hard job- I loved the cube trees and on a back street we found a local bar, frequented by bikers, and spent a happy 1/2hour.
We like to discover new places and had opted to stay local when the main excursions set off for Paris as we can be there in an hour by plane from Manchester.
As a World Heritage sight it did not rate at all, I can see the argument of celebrating and retaining a type of architecture may be but the overview of the city is dull and nothing stunning.
 
Harvey Clark Greisman (USA):
I've seen several examples of post-WWII rebuilds, most of them in Germany, like Kassel, Hannover, and Wupperthal. Cologne tops the list because of its size. These places all have something in common; they possess a chilling ambiance that mercilessly reminds one of the human will to annihilate.

When I learned last summer that LeHavre had been selected for the World Heritage List, I was incredulous. This is because I cannot forget the day in July 1991 that I arrived there by train from Paris. I had a five-hour wait for the ferry to Portsmouth. Sad, grey, severe, and angular, and the materials looked shoddy. Now, I wasn't expecting a tourist venue oozing quaintness. But I wasn't prepared for this. The whole town seemed to weep.

France, 1947. Devastated in two World Wars, politically adrift,losing its colonies,and broke. An elderly and respected architect is granted one of his last commissions, and the result, as least for me on that summer day, was an impression of crime, bewilderment, and profound grief. I'd seen the memorials at Verdun, but they offered little in the competition for Saddest Place in Europe. One recalls Patrick McGoohan as The Prisoner in his sinister village, or maybe a Jacques Tati remake done by George Romero, or a minimalist Rodenbach updating Bruges la morte.

Maybe it's changed, but from the photos I've seen, I don't think so. Now that UNESCO has sanctified it, so to speak, I dream about visiting it again, out of respect for the folks who courageously face down LeHavre's smothering atmosphere of emptiness and loss.

I dream about visiting again, but I don't believe I have the strength. The mayor is quoted as praising the city's "ambition and bravery" during the "exceptional" rebuild. Maybe. But on the Baleful Woe Scale, four stars.
Date posted: June 2006
Christophe Allonier (france):
i can suggest you these links :

http://unesco.ville-lehavre.fr/
http://www.lehavretourisme.com
Date posted: September 2005
Ian Cade (England):
The first thing you can see when approaching from the sea is the tall tower of St Joesph church, this was one of the key projects that Perret designed himself, it is imposing if slightly phallic, but the inside is very impressive the tower has multi coloured glass and it gives the whole place an peculiar glow, making it very tranquil. The rest of the city is laid out on a grid and is all made of reinforced concrete, but there are subtle differences in the buildings. There are several plaza and gardens around the centre one of which contains the impressive cultural centre designed by Oscar Neiymeyer (architect of Brasilia).
I visited just two weeks after Le Havre was added to the list and there were banners coving the Town hall and flags flying all around the main square which was very nice to see. You can climb the Tower of the Town Hall to get a good over view of the city’s lay out.
On the whole the site was nice but I didn’t really feel that I was viewing something exceptional.
As I live in Portsmouth, in southern England I have regularly visited many of the northern French ports that are linked by ferry. I had been through Le Havre several times before (even sleeping in the ferry port at the end of a trip across Europe) but I couldn’t bring myself to count it as a visited site, as I only really passed through. So I decided to put my dissertation to one side and have a day trip there to increase WHS my tally.
The good weather and novelty of being in a foreign country made it a worthwhile trip for me but I don’t really think it is worth going out of your way for. As a WHS site I would say this is one of my least favourites. To get here you can travel up from Paris, it is just short of 3 hours by train if I remember correctly, or until mid 2005 at least you can get the ferry from Portsmouth.
Date posted: August 2005


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