Views of a room

Window art, Avignon, France

To avoid the window tax imposed in England, France and Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries, property owners would remove windows. In Avignon this resulted in so many bricked up and plastered over windows that the city government has embarked on a programme of trompe l'oeil frescoes in the blank window frames. They are all over the city, some of them paying homage to actors, performers and performances of previous theatre festivals in the city. They are mostly painted by Dominique Durand and Marion Pochy.

Not a great photo because the light was not good but in this photo you can see how many windows were removed in the building with only two painted over.

[Yao RL]

Window tax, how absurd. Imagine the cold and darkness.

[Diana]

What a fabulous find and capture, such a great narrative that I was not aware of.

[Rob Z]

That's so interesting and a super photo to illustrate the result.

[Oli Lindenskov]

Nice pic and story👍😊

[Joan Robillard]

Remarkable

[Brian]

What a story and image! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[John Falconer]

I have read about the window taxes. What a great idea to do the painting etc.

[bkb in the city]

Very cool

[Peter Dulis]

Bizzar but interesting

[Dorothy]

I was there last fall and saw some of these but had no idea about the window tax! How interesting!

[haskar]

It is interesting. Lovely tones.

[Phil Howcroft]

an interesting narrative , sad that they boarded up windows !

[Walks @ 7]

Tax on windows, just silly. Do like the textures though

[Ann H. LeFevre]

What a crazy thing to do- but certainly understandable! Is there still a window tax or do people view them as historical and leave them bricked up? I'd want to put the window back in if the tax no longer existed. Good catch!!

[Suzanne]

Yes it does seem absurd now
@yaorenliu

[Suzanne]

Thanks for your interest and comments.
@ludwigsdiana @robz @mubbur @joansmor @briaan @johnfalconer @bkbinthecity @pdulis @illinilass @haskar @phil_howcroft @joysabin @olivetreeann