Its flowers and perfumes have made Grasse widely known by name. Its air is less exciting than that of places on the coast. Lofty hills behind it make it a more sheltered and less windy place than Cannes. All the year round Grasse has resident visitors, although it is not primarily a health or pleasure resort but is, as it has been for many centuries, a manufacturing and commercial town. Its principal productions are perfumes and scented soaps.
On an average the distilleries use yearly 2,000 tons of orange flowers, 1,500 tons of roses, 1,200 tons of jasmine flowers, 400 tons of violets, and an enormous quantity of other flowers both wild and cultivated.
Visitors are admitted into some of the distilleries and factories, but excursionists interested in the past will probably derive more satisfaction from the exploration of the old town, which in great part retains its medieval aspect.
It is assembled at the foot of the Tour-du-Puy, erected in the eleventh century on Roman foundations.
Upon it is a tablet commemorating a son of Grasse, Bellaud de la Bellaidière, a sixteenth-century Jekyll and Hyde, for he was both a poet and a robber. As the former he was honoured, as the latter he was hanged.
Adjoining the tower is the Hotel de Ville, formerly the bishop’s palace.
In it is a library containing interesting MSS. and pictures. Close by is the Parish Church, formerly the cathedral, a small, low building partly of the twelfth century. The choir dates only from the earliest years of the eighteenth century. The restoration of the church in the seventeenth century was accompanied by the addition of two crypts cut out of the solid rock. In the south transept is the beautiful chapel of the Holy Sacrament. An unusual structure behind the high altar was erectcd by a bishop for the accommodation of himself and his clergy.
The most interesting of the pictures are the Assumption by Subleyras, Fragonard’s Washing of the disciples’ feet, and a fifteenth-century triptych. In the Treasury is a reliquary which once contained the bones of St. Honorat. It is carved from a solid block of walnut and is covered with silver plates, on which are archaic representations of scenes in the life of the saint.
Steps at an angle of the Cathedral Square lead down to Rue Tracastel, at the end of winch, to the right, is Rue M. Journet, the main thoroughfare of the old town. This passes near the Market Place (right), and its line is continued by Rue Charles Nègre, from which an archway on the right gives access to a small square.
At the lower cod of a descent from it is Porte Neuve, from which there goes to the right Place Neuve, on the line of the eastern rampart.
In Place César-Ossola is the Post Office.
At the farther end is Boulevard Fragonard, commemorating the famous painter, born at Grasse, 1732. N° 16 was the eighteenth-century town house of the Marquis de Cabris and his remarkable wife, sister of Mirabeau. It is now the Musée Fragonard (closed Mondays), and contains interesting souvenirs and paintings.
The boulevard winds round the public garden, in which is a bust of Fragonard, to the Promenade du Cours (Cours Hlonoré-Crespi), a charming promenade commanding a truly magnificent panorama. The farther end of the Cours is connected with Boulevard Victor Hugo, one of the fine thoroughfares of modern Grasse and the site of the Hospital du Petit-Paris. In the chapel (donation expected) are three early paintings by Rubens and three works of the eighteenth-century French painter Natoire.
From the northern end of Boulevard Victor Hugo, Boulevard du Jeu de Ballon passes the Casino, behind which are the buildings of the Palais de Justice, and the Gendarmerie, continues past the Theatre and leads to Place de la Foux, the main centre of the town from whence commence the bus services.
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