Sceaux, France — A bicycle built for six. How about a steam powered bicycle, perhaps less polluting than an electrical bicycle. Or perhaps a rather unstable looking penny-farthing, better known as a high wheeler. With the celebrated Tour de France bicycle race in full swing and the Summer Olympic Games in Paris approaching, sport and sport exhibitions are becoming a cultural outing in and of themselves. A major show, which is among those bearing the Cultural Olympiade label, is being played out in the picturesque Sceaux estate in the town of the same name just outside of Paris. Here the administrative department of the Hauts-de-Seine has gone all out to present a comprehensive exhibition on the history of the bicycle. The exhibition takes the visitor through the fascinating story of this vehicle that has been in use since the beginning of the 19th century. It all began back with what was called a draisienne in French, a kind of hobby horse looking vehicle, in 1817.

Entitled Roues libres. La Grande histoire du vélo (Free Wheeling, a Grand History of the Bicycle), the show brings together a host of bicycles, old and new, archives, documents, art works and objects exploring the history of the famed two-wheeler and innovations brought about by the bicycle, notably the invention of the pedal, attributed to Pierre Michaux in 1861 or the exceptional Jurassic-park sounding and steam powered velocipede from the 19th century French inventor Louis-Guillaume Perreaux and perhaps one of the world’s first motors (it was powered with alcohol). A part of the show is devoted to the cycle as a social and leisure object as well as a section examining the bicycle in sport.

A rich program of conferences, guided tours, concerts, performances, workshops and special events are all on the agenda and you can even try out some of the old historical bicycles. Although we would not recommend the high wheeler. The Sceaux estate was created at the end of the 17th century by the son of Louis XIV’s famed first statesman, Colbert, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, and his son, the Marquis de Seignelay, both of whom served as naval secretary to the Sun King. At the beginning of the 18th century it would become the property of the princes born to the natural children of Louis XIV and his mistress the Marquise de Montespan. Today it belongs to the administrative department of the Hautes-Seine and its chateau, now a museum, the orangerie, where the bicycle exhibition is being held, and its splendid grounds with its Grand Canal, waterfall and woods are all open to the public and make for a fine, bucolic outing less than half an hour from Paris. And on July 24th starting at 8 am, the estate will welcome the Olympic torch for its run through the region. The bicycle exhibition is on until December 31st. Domaine départemental de Sceaux Orangerie – 8 avenue Claude-Perrault, 92330 Sceaux, domaine-de-sceaux.hauts-de-seine.fr . Informations et réservations :+ 33 (0)1 41 87 29 71 ou resa.museedomainesceaux@hauts-de-seine.fr
©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette