WHERE WE ARE
CENTRE POMPADOUR-
LABORATOIRE NEOFEMINIST
9 rue du château
80210 Ercourt
FRANCE
well, in the middle of nowhere, in the tiny village of Ercourt, which is situated in the Baie de Somme area, a nature reserve for the witches of French Picardie.
Picardie is a region that has been at the heart of European history for well over a thousand years. though its historic heritage includes some of the finest medieval cathedrals in France, a lot of châteaux and many sites of the ‘great war’ (as if there could be greatness in destruction) it is not one of the great French tourist regions.
neighboring Normandy, and only 19 km away from the seacoast, you can either reach CP by car (200 km to Paris, 290 km to Bruxelles, 260 km and some water to London) or by train.
the nearest train station is Abbeville.
the next grocery store and café are 5 km away, the nearest little town, Abbeville, with all shopping facilities, is 12 km away, the nearest seaside restaurants are 22 km away.
WE DUST AWAY THE PATRIARCHAL PAST AND HOOVERED THE HISTORIC HIERARCHY
THE CHÂTEAU
was built in 1849 - the year after the historically famous outbreak of a wave of revolutions that altered the political and philosophical landscape throughout the rest of the century.
its architect Hector-Martin Lefuel is best known for the completion of the Palais du Louvre, the theatre of the Fontainbleau Château, the Château Neudeck, in neobaroque stile, typical for the Second Empire. the original commissioner and owner of the Château was Henri Adhemar le Blond de Plouy and the family stayed about a century before leaving to a neighboring château.
Instead of investing in a Parisian two-room flat Michaela Spiegel bought this run down 1200m2 beauty flooded with light, and after a hands-on total renovation of three years, sweat and tears, CENTRE POMPADOUR opened in 2017 as the first and only European feminist creative residency and feminist laboratory.
Presuming the calm of the French countryside gets you inspired and doesn’t trigger your yawning reflex, this is the right place for you.
CP offers a lot of privacy, surrounded by a lot of nature. you find a little pavilion, sitting areas, a ping pong table, a yoga deck, a sundowner caravan and some sculptures in the garden of 4 ha / 10 acres.
CP is working on a continuously growing multi-lingual feminist library of women’s history readings and art literature, and a selection of themed films. Feel free to read or reread your favorite feminist classic, and to advise us on what is missing.
the six guest rooms each have their private bathroom, are spacious (between 20m2 and 50m2) and bright with high ceilings. all rooms have wifi connection. We provide bed linens and towels.
depending on what you work on, you can use your room as an individual work space, share the top-floor attic atelier of 50m2, withdraw in the writer’s pavilion or the caravan.
other facilities include a disco ball room with a not too well-tuned piano, the black room, the dining room, the drawing room, the TV room, the residency kitchen, and spacious indoor and outdoor living areas intended to be filled with feminist energy.
Please note that we are in an old château with very steep staircases and no elevator.
