Images et imaginaire. Le tour de France des compagnons
Images and imagination. The tour of France for companions

Summary/Abstract: This paper, substantiated by text extracts, develops the contents of thirty images and explanatory diagrams presented during the conference “Image, imaginaire, représentation”. My aim is to show that reality, perceived through both time and space, may be modelled under different representations. Through geometrical figures - the square and the circle - a shift from a spatial representation of time to a temporal representation of space is enabled and religious rites, amphidromic processions, and pagan rites, namely the "tour de France des compagnons", are evoked. The imaginary orientations of the Tour de France during the 19th century are used as common thread to reach back as far as Strabon's (64BC to 25AD) text. The discrepancy between the reference points cited by Strabon and those of the Gallic geodesy (Vadé, 2011), can only be explained by the roman acculturation, from the 2nd century before our era to the 1st century of the Christian era. However, the geodesy of Celtic origin being much more accurate in its comprehension of the Gallic territory than the one proposed by Strabon, the question remains regarding the model used to design the prototypic territorial unit. Represented by a square, it stands erect from a remarkable angle, and is aligned with toponyms derived from ‘Mediolanon’.

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