More about Macon
Including a surprising post office and a very fine fine arts museum
Macon wasn’t the Burgundy I had dreamt of, as I shared in my first article about the préfecture of the Saône et Loire department, home to about 34,000 Maconnais and Maconnaises.
Nonetheless, during my short visit, I took in a few delightful sites and sights.
La Poste
A post office rarely ends up on the top of anyone’s “must-see” list, but Macon’s majestic Hôtel des Postes really sent me. Very cool by day, it’s even cooler by night:
This massive and ornate structure was inaugurated on June 1 1914, less than a month before the Sarajevo shots heard around the world.
Its architect, Jules Lavirotte, had hoped to plant his post office in a much grander city: Algiers. But colonial authorities nixed the project, and Macon it was.
The story goes that the only modification made to the original plans was changing decorative dates into raisins, the latter being more representative of the region’s produce. 1
A tiny, disappointingly modern portion of the building is still Macon’s downtown post office, but most of this oversized edifice has given way to an immense 4-star hotel. 2
All I can say is one heck of a lot of mail must have been going through Macon at the time.
La Maison de Bois
The aptly but unoriginally named “wooden house” was built between 1490 and 1510, making it Macon’s oldest standing building.
Legend has it that it was the headquarters for the Confrérie bachique de Malgouverne, a particularly trouble-making fraternity of rowdy aristocrats.3 Its façades are covered with curious and slightly obscene characters, mainly men in varying states of undress as well as some monkeys.
It now houses the equally aptly and unoriginally named café-restaurant “La Maison de Bois,” a Macon institution that was quite lively inside despite appearances from the outside.
This was January, after all.
Le Musée des Ursulines
With a collection of over 25,000 pieces, including a rich archaeological base, Macon’s beautifully appointed fine arts museum is considered one of the most complete outside of Paris.
Taking the visitor through centuries of art and boasting paintings by the likes of Monet, Courbet, and Corot, it offers quite an overwhelming collection.
My favorite discovery was Hippolyte Petitjean, a Macon-born artist who was part of the neo-impressionist movement and close to both Seurat and Pissarro.
I usually overestimate the time I will spend in small-town museums, but this time, two hours was far from enough, especially as my visit was slowed down by unusually warm and chatty museum staff on every floor — perhaps one of the perks of being the only visitor.
For a fuller discovery of this spectacular collection, I’ve referenced a photo-filled article.4
If you’re an art lover, this museum alone makes Macon worth a stop.
A quick word about food
If you do drop by Macon to check out its museum, be warned that attractive restaurants and bars won’t exactly jump out at you. So I’ll break with tradition and make a recommendation: Ma Table en Ville, hidden away on a residential side street but near the town center.
Speaking of glasses, my tip jar has been pretty lonesome lately!
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Jusqu’à la prochaine ville moyenne,
Betty Carlson
Un peu d’histoire sur la Poste May 9 2016
Ailleurs : Musée des Ursulines de Mâcon, une institution culturelle ancrée dans sa région et dans l'histoire de l'art - Paris la douce, July 31 2021
Thank you for this promenade around Macon. There are so many beautiful places. 🤩
Some lovely architecture. That old house looks incongruous stuck on a corner with a modern coffee shop underneath. And that beautiful gallery is a real find,.