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Non-profit association for the promotion of the cultural, natural, and landscape heritage represented by tree avenues

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Tree avenues

 

The French term ‘allée’ is used in many parts of Europe when referring to tree-lined ‘ways of passage’ in parks and gardens, in towns or in the country. In the context of landscapes, ‘avenue’ has the same meaning in English. ‘Avenues’ (or ‘tree avenues’) are thus ‘ways of passage’—paths, streets, and roads, but also canals—lined with rows of regularly spaced trees.

Avenues (in this sense) constitute an important cultural, natural, and landscape heritage in France, Europe, and beyond.

To know more about tree avenues, go to the "Quiz" and to the "Tree avenues and road safety" pages.

Our objectives

 

♦ To foster knowledge about  the cultural, natural, and landscape heritage that avenues represent ♦ Through information and education, to raise the awareness of the general public and professionals about the values of avenues ♦ To showcase the heritage of tree avenues and associated best practice ♦ To promote the economic activities and jobs avenues create ♦ To protect and renew existing avenues, and to develop new ones ♦ To support initiatives and protagonists helping to preserve tree avenues ♦

Who are we?

 

We are avenue lovers, determined to showcase this valuable heritage and convinced it is an asset for all of us. The board is made up of: Eric Mutschler, chair; Isabelle Kauffmann, secretary; Pierre Courbet, treasurer; Pierre Collin ; Qing Liu ; and Danièle Saget. Chantal Pradines, expert on avenues in France and in Europe, is executive director.

 

The international symposium "The essential beauty of tree avenues" is over. It ended with the Carcassonne declaration about tree avenues and road safety.

The presentations (slides and videos) are available online here.

They supported us in 2023:

logo2022 IRIS logoCG11 carre VALHOR SOUT Logo RVBLogo cartouche gris NOREMAT PrintLogo DBInitiatives Q CHALONS 2016 exyd 230810 logo 2200x2200 grey logo Mugnier logo 2022 VIRY FAYAT GROUPE BLEU  Logo 4 B red

 

At the end of the symposium organized in 2018, we exchanged thoughts about the initiative called “Tree Avenues - Horizon 2030”, and we retained three keywords:

link, knowledge, events.

Yves BOULANGER DSC 6923

Link

By their very nature, tree avenues constitute a physical link between two points. They trace routes, even valued touristic routes such as the German Deutsche Alleenstraße, and precious ecological corridors.

Tree avenues create temporal links: today’s tree-lined streets and roads take us back to the “French-style” garden of the 17th century; memorial avenues in Australia or Canada etc. take us back to WWI. 

Tree avenues form symbolic links: the avenue planted in 2014 on both sides of the German-Polish border in a program called “Make avenues – not borders” is an example. Symbolic links are doubled with human links. And these effortlessly transcend geographical distances.

This makes avenues perfect carriers of the values of cohesion and peace. “Horizon 2030” we are aiming at is an horizon with more avenues, and qualitative avenues, i.e. more physical links, more symbolic links, more human links.

Possible actions: Planting avenues - Creating or managing touristic routes -Twinning avenues and linking people together

Knowledge

Knowledge is essential if we want to preserve avenues in the long term.

We need precise know-how in terms of management to counter the disappearance of trees and avenues.

We need to know where we can find our avenues, we need to be able to recognize them when only a few trees are left, in order to be able to acknowledge their value, to prevent their disappearance, or to replant them.

We need to know the characteristics of tree avenues in general and of each avenue in particular to reconcile the technical imperatives of trees and roads with their historical / cultural interest, their environmental interest, and their social interest (as is required under the terms of article L350-3 of the French Environmental code).

Breaking down divisions, sharing knowledge between different kinds of stakeholders—the man in the street, elected officials, and professionals—and between different kinds of professionals—experts in arboriculture, biologists, landscapers, developers, road managers etc—, and building together is crucial for quality projects and to avoid conflicts.

Necessary actions: Inventories and studies - Sharing knowledge - Crossing disciplines & building together

Events

Events are absolutely necessary to fight against attrition of memory, due to things being forgotten or becoming banal, and to keep heritage alive and visible in the community.

The initiative

The participants in the conference listed 58 actions they have already undertaken or would be interested in taking part in. They could all be related to one of the key-words “link”, “knowledge”, “events”

Events: Dynamic events (circulating in avenues) - Static events (artistic) - Linking events to each other



The exhibition "Tree avenues - from war to peace" is available for display. It has both French and English text.

PRESENTATION

 

DESCRIPTION

 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

 

In November 2018, we invited Mathieu Flammarion to follow the international symposium we had been organizing. Mathieu Flammarion is an author and illustrator, a graduate from Institut Saint-Luc Art school in Brussels. He produces comics and illustrative works but also paintings which have been exhibited in Paris, Berlin and New-York. We had asked him to be with us at the symposium so as to find the matter of his story, but also to experience the atmosphere and meet with the participants.

Mathieu is actually working on a graphic novel inspired by the felling, in 2013, of part of the memorial avenue of Montafia (Italy), by the project of the Vimy Oaks Legacy, which repatriated oak saplings from Canada to their original territory of Vimy Ridge, and by the Australian avenues of honour. It will deliver this history to a new audience. A kind of “making of” supplement will round it off and present the symposium in itself as well as Mathieu’s work.

extrait maquettedossier190224 Page 2

(c) M.Flammarion

The exhibition "Tree avenues - From war to peace", comprising 15 panels with both english and french text was displayed in a public park in Nancy (France) in 2019. The exhibition is now available for rental. It can be displayed indoors or outdoors. Click on "Rental" below to find out more. 

RENTAL  

It spans from Italian Renaissance gardens to present-day promotion and plantings of tree avenues.

We move from André Mollet’s “Pleasure Garden” to the famous plane trees along the Canal du Midi, and have a look at the Spanish “alamedas”, Price’s “Essay on the Picturesque” or Napoléon’s decrees, and much more. 

WWI and post-war landscapes, the French treelined roads that impressed the soldiers from the British Empire, and the avenues planted to honour them, refer to the international symposium organized in 2018. If this part is of less interest to you, it can be replaced by a single more concise panel.

The last panels show the difficulties to preserve this asset, even when it is sacred, but also the strong support from society: avenues enhance the landscape and offer precious services for both people and the environment.

Richly illustrated (85 images from 18 countries over three continents), the exhibition offers a large amount of information, with a strict hierarchy in the labels. It is of interest both for the broad public, including children, and specialists.

The accompanying documents, in English, will be available as soon as we have enough funds to finish our work

  • catalogue of the exhibition
  • teachers' supporting documents
  • activity sheets for families with children

Why not support us ?
 Tree avenues presentation exhibition a page2

The exhibition was created thanks to the support of our donnors :

CartoucheMDA DPMA Itlogo MugnierLOGO VIRY FAYAT GROUP BLANCLogo valhor A5 2017 RVB

www.defense.gouv.fr/memoire ; www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr ; www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr

Programme of International Symposium

"Tree avenues - from War to Peace"

12 & 13 November 2018 - Liffol-le-Grand (France)

Click on vignette PDF 1cm15068 to see the texts of the presentations, on vignette PPT 1cm to see the matching powerpoints, and on vignette film 1cm8490 to watch the videos

MONDAY 12 November

Bus transfers from Chaumont / Neufchâteau railway stations

9.15

Registration and welcome coffee

10.15

  Opening

  Eric MUTSCHLER - Chair of ALLÉES-AVENUES / avenues of the future / (FR) vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette film 1cm8490

10.40

  The Council of Europe and the European Landscape Convention: from war to peace vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

  Maguelonne DÉJEANT-PONS - Executive secretary of the European Landscape Convention. Council of Europe

10.55

  Road infrastructures: tree avenues in the landscape vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

 Chantal PRADINES - Managing directof of ALLÉES-AVENUES / avenues of the future / (FR)

11.10

Break

Tree avenues and 1st World War

11.30

  From formal avenue to shattered splinters vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

  Paul GOUGH - Professor, RMIT University (AU)

11.50

  Trees and their symbolic weight vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette film 1cm8490

  Georges FETERMAN - Chair of A.R.B.R.E.S (FR)

12.10

  Arboreal Eloquence: First World War memorial avenues vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette film 1cm8490

 Jo-anne MORGAN - PhD (Geography), University of Canterbury (NZ)

12.40

  FEEDBACK and Q & A session

  Isabelle MASSON-LOODTS - Journalist, author, filmmaker  (BE) vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette film 1cm8490

12.50

Lunch

Memorial avenues in different countries

14.20

  Australia’s Avenues of Honour – Living memorials vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

  Stuart READ - Landscape architect, horticulturist, expert member of ICOMOS-IFLA international scientific committee on cultural landscapes (AU)

14.40

  War Memorial Avenues in the UK vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette film 1cm8490

  David LAMBERT - Director, The Parks Agency (GB)

15.00

  Canada’s Memorial Avenues of Trees: Roads of Remembrance vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

  Gordon FULTON - Former National director of historical research, Parks Canada Agency (CA)

15.20

  FEEDBACK and Q & A session

  Stéphanie de COURTOIS - Assistant professor ENSA-Versailles, in charge of the Master's programme Historical gardens, heritage, landscape, member of ICOMOS IFLA international scientific committee on cultural landscapes (FR) vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette film 1cm8490

15.35

Break

16.05

  Routes of Memory in the United States: Symbolism, Design and the Landscape vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

  Dan MARRIOTT - Principal of Paul Daniel Marriott + Associates (USA)

16.25

  Viali della Rimembranza - Italian roads of remembrance vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

 Angelo PORTA - Consultant to Legambiente (IT)

16.45

  New Zealand Avenues of Honour vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

  Stuart READ - Landscape architect, horticulturist, expert member of ICOMOS-IFLA international scientific committee on cultural landscapes (AU)

17.00

  France, Belgium and Germany, conspicuous by their absence? vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

 Chantal PRADINES - Managing director of ALLÉES-AVENUES / avenues of the future / (FR)

17.15

  FEEDBACK and Q & A session

  Maguelonne DÉJEANT-PONS - Executive secretary of the European Landscape Convention. Council of Europe vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette film 1cm8490

17.30

Interlude

18.45

Concert Arbrassons - Angeli Primitivi vignette PDF 1cm15068

19.10

Gala dinner

22.00

Transfer to accommodation

 

TUESDAY 13 November

8.30

Transfer from accommodation

9.15

  Welcome

  Eric MUTSCHLER - Chair of ALLÉES-AVENUES / avenues of the future / (FR) vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette film 1cm8490

Making avenues great again

9.20

  The dynamics for a heritage issue vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

  Chantal PRADINES - Managing director of ALLÉES-AVENUES / avenues of the future / (FR)

9.30

  Power to the Peaceful, 3 years of community action to save our street trees vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

  Chris RUST - Co-chair, STAG - Sheffield Tree Action Groups (GB)

9.50

  The example of Montafia d'Asti, tourning point for raising collective awareness vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

 Angelo PORTA - Counsellor of Legambiente (IT)

 Maria-Vittoria GATTI - Chair of  "I nostri figli. Montafia" (IT)
10.10

  The Avenues of Honour Project Down Under - A trail of discovery vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

 Glenn WILLIAMS - Director, TREENET (AU)
10.30

  "Avenues, not borders": the idea behind the Polish-German trans-border avenue and how it was done vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

 Katharina DUJESIEFKEN - Agricultural engineer, Coordinator Trees and tree avenues, BUND-Friends of the Earth Germany (DE)

 Piotr TYSZKO-CHMIELOWIEC - Roads for Nature Programme leader, Foundation for Sustainable Development (PL)

10.50

  FEEDBACK and Q & A session

  Linda DICAIRE - Landscape architect, member of ICOMOS IFLA international scientific committee on cultural landscapes vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

11.10

Break

Making avenues great again (continued)

11.30

 Award of Sites & Monuments "Avenue Prize"

 Jérôme FERCHAUD - Board member of Sites & Monuments (FR), Jean-Pierre THIBAULT - Inspector general, Conseil général de l’environnement et du développement durable) (pending)

 Winners: Town of Heining-lès-Bouzonville, "Autour du canal de Bourgogne” (NGO) , "Gien, sauvons les platanes” (action group), Mr. & Mrs. Eppinger, château de Sermange

12.50

Lunch

"Avenues - Horizon 2030"

14.00

  ROUND TABLE- Writing the history of peace for tomorrow. Developing cultural and touristic routes around tree avenues? vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette PPT 1cm vignette film 1cm8490

 Chantal PRADINES - Managing director of ALLÉES-AVENUES / allées d'avenir / (FR) vignette PDF 1cm15068 vignette film 1cm8490

David LAWRY - OAM, Founder TREENET Avenues of Honour Project (AU) 

 Barthélémy LEMAL - Mayor of Heining-lès-Bouzonville, winner of 2018 "Avenues Prize" (FR)

 Erwin PFEIFFER - Board member, Deutsche Alleenstraße e.V., deputy head of Tourism, ADAC (DE)

 Marie-Madeleine DAMIEN - Chair of Paysages et Sites de mémoire de la Grande Guerre (FR)

 William TROMP - Board member, Société Française d’Arboriculture (FR)

 Erick CONSTENSOU - Head of the Road environment and technical service. Haute-Garonne county council, winner of the 2016 "Avenues Prize" (FR)

Béatrice SAUREL - Artist, landscape architect, tree surgeon,  chromatotherapist (FR)

15.25

 Conclusion

Simon LECLERC - Vice-chair of Vosges county council (FR) vignette film 1cm8490

 Eric MUTSCHLER - Chair of ALLÉES-AVENUES / avenues of the future / (FR) vignette film 1cm8490

 

16.00

Transfer towards Neufchâteau and Chaumont railway stations

 

 

 

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