Five different exhibitions go to form a portrait of a city and its recent history, from after the second world war up until today. This is the highly interesting programme put forward by the French town of Le Harve (from September 2002 to March 2003) to be held in five different locations.

Covering half a century of history is the exhibition “Le Havre, une ville étonnante 1950-2002” (at the Forum de l’Hotel de Ville, until 3 November); looking instead at the rebuilding of the Saint Francois, with work by around twenty local professionals, is the exhibition at the Musée de l’Ancien Havre (until 3 March 2003). Dedicated to the temporary architecture erected to deal with emergency “Le Havre ville provisoire” (Prieuré de Graville, until 3 March 2003). The picture expands with the last two exhibitions “Images de la ville” (until 23 November), historical photos, and “Architectures de la reconstruction en haute-Normandie” (Prieuré de Graville, until 3 March 2003).

In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, the Normandy city was the worst off in the whole of France. Its centre was completely destroyed, along with the industrial and port area and it was necessary to find a way of rebuilding it. How? - the political forces of the time asked themselves, who decided to entrust the overall planning to a single architect. So between 1945 and 1950, Le Havre rediscovered its identity and began to be reborn, thanks to the invention of Auguste Perret and his brothers. Three major challenges were involved, to build in record time, to construct with little available means and to stretch the budget. The Perrets found the solution to all this with the use of a material relatively new at the time, reinforced concrete. And the rest is history.

until 3.3.2003
Le Havre, ville réinventée
Le Havre: 5 exhibitions in various locations