The famous attraction in the town of Tautavel is the “Tautavel Prehistoric Man” Museum. In 1971 remains were found of a 450,000 year old man. For me however the town is famous for two things, 1) the awesome harvest celebration that kicked off my stay in the Roussillon and 2) the incredible tiles and mosaics that I discovered around the town. I tried to find out why Tautavel had these little gems of art engraved in random walls throughout the village but have yet to discover the answer. If anyone knows I would sure love to be enlightened.
I did not visit the museum (perhaps next trip) but I did do my best to track down as much of the “mosaic history” as possible.
Tautavel Co-op, Party Scene Over
Tautavel Tiles
I First Noticed this Tilework
The Mairie
Close Up
Pruning
The Site (for lack of a dissertation on "terroir")
The Plantation or Vineyard
Man Arrives in Europe
Man Arrives in Europe and Discovers BBQ???
The Men of Tautavel
The Birth of Fire
Birth of Art
"Man"
An Artist with a Sense of Irony
Those are all that I found but as the story is not complete I am sure that there were several others!
