A piece of history

What say you on the issue below?

We can learn a lot from the past, so we should preserve monuments well

AS AUTUMN sets in, the air now blows cool at dawn and at dusk. Fallen brown leaves drift around on the streets and have to be packed into plastic bin bags every day.

The sun has packed off after having sweetened and ripened bunches of grapes in vineyards spread out across France. Every grape has already been harvested.

Heritage site: Luis and his wife Amelia Gaik in Saint-Emillion with a view of the town’s old houses, rolling hills of vineyard behind them.

Seasonal workers who are employed to hand pick each bunch, earn between 80 and 100 Euros a day for the back-breaking work that has yet to be taken over by a machine. For centuries, grapes have been cultivated in France for making wine. And, Malaysians, like many other visitors to France, will not miss a trip to a vineyard for the experience of touching grapes.

Last month, I visited Saint-Emillion, an ancient town in a famous wine-growing region not far from Bordeaux.

With me on the trip was Permanent Delegate of Malaysia to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) Datuk Kenneth J. Luis, who was accompanied by his wife Datin Amelia Gaik, a Malaysian of Iban origin from the state of Sarawak who also speaks some Hokkien.

Luis, who is of Dutch, Portuguese and Malaysian ancestry, and his wife joined the Malaysian government service after graduating from the University of Malaya in the early 70s.

Our trip was guaranteed to be interesting because of Saint-Emillion. One can evoke the monk who lived there during the 8th century, or talk about its surrounding vineyards or its status as one of the 878 sites all over the world on the World Heritage List of Unesco.

As a Malaysian of Hokkien and Peranakan extract, I am inclined to discuss Saint-Emillion as a world heritage site in order to highlight it as an example of good upkeep that can be emulated by Malacca and George Town that were included in the World Heritage List in July 2007.

At our first stop near the wall of the moat surrounding the town, we could see that the site was really ancient and parts of the wall were bare of cement, exposing how each stone had been carried by hand and placed, one by one, on top of each other. It shows that experts had supervised and carried out excellent restoration work.

Just before we advanced along a steep cobblestone path leading to the town centre, we came upon a tall old church where a mass service was on. “A good sign,” I told myself, as worshippers means families had settled in the vicinity and so Saint-Emillion is not declining into a lifeless window display meant for masses of unthinking tourists.

Farther on, we reached the low stone parapet that marked the edge of Saint-Emillion and the higher end of the hill where the town was built. Down below and beyond was a vista of old houses with old roof tiles that stood up like blocks of pale rocks against a backdrop of green patches of vineyards that seemed to roll away and merge with the distant horizon. On the right was the Bell Tower that could still bear the weight of tourists who climbed up to its top.

Everything about Saint-Emillion is old and yet well preserved and remains in operational condition.

The restaurants and boutiques flanking the dipping and rising narrow streets of cobblestone are not more than two storeys high and their facades and signboards adhere to the medieval style both in colours and in the writing.

Not at all in sight were new, skyrise buildings, telegraph poles or wire, fast food outlets and traffic lights. Hardly any car was allowed in and I, for one, did not hear any rock-and-roll or rap music.

While other tourists scanned and marvelled at the scenery, we went to look for the plaque on a wall that was unveiled on Dec 16, 1999 in the presence of then Permanent Delegate of France to Unesco Jean Mustelli, and which inscribed Saint-Emillion to the World Heritage List.

When we finally left after a visit to the underground Monolithic church that was dug 11 metres deep into the ground to create the biggest Monolithic place of worship in Europe, we felt that we had stepped out from a painting that depicted a piece of history.

Saint-Emillion will remain restored and static but its famous “macarons” or special puff biscuits and wines will evolve continuously.

I believe we can learn a lot from history so we have to preserve monuments well.

For example, along Jonker Street in Malacca, a Malay mosque, a Chinese temple and a Hindu temple have enjoyed peaceful “co-existence” for centuries. We have to cherish this.

Remember, we love to shop for new things but we have also to learn to appreciate and keep old things and monuments, on which no sale price can be fixed.