Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off 800,000 people died in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This is the account of the part played by one institution with more responsibility than most. The church. Click here to read a free extract and buy the eBook for just £1.99 It's hard to find anyone in Gisors with a bad word to say about Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka Other priests at the small French town's imposing medieval Catholic church, an hour's drive north-west of Paris into the rich Normandy countryside, speak with admiration of his popularity with congregants. It's his ability to engage with people, they say. Worshippers love his sermons, feel his sincerity. He brings something from Africa Even those rarely found in Gisors' church know of Father Wenceslas and insist he is a good man A bartender at a café next to the church says he's seen the priest about and that he is well respected It's just too unbelievable that a priest would do such a thing Nearly half the voters in Gisors backed the far-right anti-immigrant National Front in France's last parliamentary election Many of those same people have embraced Father Wenceslas one of the few foreign black residents of the town He is so well known that a local photo studio sells a postcard of the Rwandan priest in a white cassock with the church as backdrop The rare public voice of doubt in the town is Gisors' long-serving mayor an elderly communist who said the church is unhappy because he has not made his mind up about Father Wenceslas no one wants to believe what they say about the priest Whether people have all the information or not they seem to have made up their minds in his favour But I don't know if he's a victim or a perpetrator,' said the mayor 'He's very bitter that I haven't taken a position in this affair He thinks I should support him like everyone else does The church came to me and said: you need to take a position.' Larmanou said his problem is that it is hard to know what happened so far away, two decades ago. People in Gisors heard about Rwanda back in 1994 as the carnage made the news even if the pictures of Tutsis being hacked to death on the streets were too gruesome to show on television But much of the outside world struggled to grasp the enormity of the crime in part because it was easier to fall back on clichés about tribalism and ancient ethnic hatreds than to grapple with a more complicated reality rooted in a struggle for political power brushed aside the tragedy with the cynical observation: 'In such countries Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka arrived at Gisors' magnificent with its aspirations to be a cathedral written over its Gothic towers and Renaissance facade It was a far cry from the priest's dreary colonial-era church The same church where he wore a gun on his hip Father Wenceslas was embraced in Gisors by people moved by his story He was lucky to have survived the killings He almost lost his own life for helping people to escape the death squads There was another story that spread through Gisors too Father Wenceslas had been arrested in France a few years earlier over allegations of blood on his hands in the genocide That piece of information didn't appear to make much of a dent on his standing Father Wenceslas was appointed chaplain of the scouts in the diocese But the past was not so easy to ignore once demonstrators from out of town turned up at the church during mass chanting slogans accusing Father Wenceslas of murder and waving an indictment from an international court charging the priest with genocide the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) then in the process of convicting many of the political and military leaders who oversaw the genocide conspired with leaders of the extremist Hutu militia spearheading the killing of Tutsis It alleges that he helped draw up lists of men to die stood by as Tutsis were taken away and killed allowed the militia to roam his church hunting for victims a military court in Rwanda convicted the priest in absentia and sentenced him to life in prison for genocide The protestors – some of them genocide survivors others French people married to Rwandans – called on the Roman Catholic church to distance itself from Father Wenceslas by stripping him of his position He organised a vigorous defence of the priest including a de facto trial by parishioners who listened to carefully selected witnesses and then declared Father Wenceslas to be innocent The drive to bring Father Wenceslas to trial for his alleged crimes has dragged from Rwanda to French judges to the international tribunal and back to the Paris courts The priest has been arrested and released several times The survivors are despairing of ever seeing justice for what they endured two decades ago But for the Roman Catholic church there is more at stake than the future of a single cleric Father Wenceslas is just one member of the clergy at the heart of a struggle over where to pin moral responsibility for the genocide.The Vatican paints the church as a victim not only of the mass killings – because priests and nuns were among the those slaughtered – but of persecution by Rwanda's present government which has jailed members of the clergy and accused the church leadership of having blood on its hands Some died courageously attempting to save lives or refusing to abandon their parishioners Some collaborated with the militias to massacre their own congregations; others pulled the trigger themselves Priests ordered the bulldozers in to crush a church full of people to death and organised the slaughter of disabled Tutsi children The Vatican has sought to identify the church with the heroic priests But ask Rwandans today which side the Catholic church as an institution was on during the genocide and many say it was allied with the killers Rwanda's archbishop served the government as a member of the president's cabinet and a vocal supporter of the ruling party His bishops mostly stayed silent during the genocide or sided with the regime organising the massacres their statements were so equivocal or misleading as to be seen by many Rwandans as indifferent to the slaughter Accusations that the Catholic leadership acted as apologists for the génocidaire have been buttressed by the involvement of a network of church organisations in helping priests accused of murder in Rwanda to evade justice taken on under false names as parish priests church names are often recalled not as places of worship but as extermination centres more Tutsis were killed among the pews and altars than in any other place But what frustrates them most is the continued culture of denial in the Catholic church (which claims three out of five Rwandans as followers) that echoes the Vatican's failure for many years to face up to the scandal of paedophile priests and the complicity of some in the church in protecting Nazi war criminals I arrived in Gisors one Thursday afternoon and spotted Father Wenceslas holding a service for a few elderly congregants scattered among rows of empty wooden chairs engaging and even witty as he painted a picture of himself as a persecuted priest in a persecuted church At times he guffawed at what he said were the preposterous accusations against him He appealed to be understood as an innocent man 'Can you imagine what it means to be accused as a priest That you've raped women when it's clearly false He rarely raised his voice as we spoke about why it is that so many survivors of the genocide accuse him of siding with the murderers Or why an international court chose to indict him when there was no shortage of other targets for trial But Father Wenceslas grew more forceful when I asked about the gun a photograph of him with a cross around his neck and a gun on his hip outside his church It is one of the things the survivors all talk about This is an edited extract from Chaplains of the Militia: the tangled story of the Catholic church during Rwanda's genocide by Chris McGreal. Discover more and buy the ebook from Guardian Shorts 13 Nov 2014: From Chernobyl to Rwanda: horrific 'dark tourism' hotspots – in pictures 7 Apr 2014: Widows of the genocide: how Rwanda's women are rebuilding their lives | Alexandra Topping 7 Apr 2014: Rwanda genocide: 20th anniversary brings a nation together to mourn Rwanda: 20 years after the genocide index 2019Save this storySaveSave this storySaveIn 1930 Pablo Picasso purchased the 18th-century Château de Boisgeloup near the village of Gisors in Normandy another artist is showing in the space: Irish-American painter Sean Scully is presenting his first exhibition with the Almine Rech gallery who is married to Picasso’s grandson Bernard Ruiz-Picasso has used the château as a holiday home with her husband since he inherited it in 1975 “We’ve spent a great deal of time at Boisgeloup over the years and during my stays there I felt that the studio space was calling to be activated,” says Rech “The studio had been kept untouched since Picasso left Boisgeloup and while the room has always been visually interesting it felt lifeless in comparison to its history as a space for lively and prolific artistic production.” Sean Scully stands before two of his paintings on view at the Contemporary Art Museum Malaga Rech’s first exhibition in the space was a group show featuring works by Picasso himself, plus other artists inspired by him, including Cy Twombly we’ve continued to look for opportunities to activate the space in collaboration with artists for whom it has strong resonance,” she says A metal painting by Scully inside Picasso’s studio Scully is one such artist. “I think that Pablo Picasso is the great superstar of art history because of his grip on the materiality and power of life “If you look at the way that Picasso paints and this is again something that we have in common We both paint without hesitation: We paint with desire and certainty and a kind of lust for life.” The show features works created over the last two years displayed in Picasso’s former studio as well as the property’s dovecote I found that I couldn’t exhibit in the house because it’s coming from another time I preferred the rougher spaces,” says Scully “I loved the studio of Picasso because it was open it looks like a double garage in America without doors so I’m using the space to show metal paintings which I think work very well against the sense of decaying plaster on the walls Scully’s paintings inside the chapel at Boisgeloup Scully has placed a 10-foot-tall colorful sculpture so I wanted to make something shockingly contemporary for the front lawn,” he says “And then the other space that really appealed to me was the old chapel in the way of giving them the kiss of life.” In there Get a year of unlimited access for $25 $20 per month who wrote a lovely essay for the catalogue and who is himself the descendant of a very great painter I’m going there to the opening with my son Oisin The space at the château that Picasso used as his studio Celtique opens on October 26 and runs through November 17. in the city of gisors, france, the architects at archi5 have united two secondary schools together in a project which sees the re-establishment of the connection between two separate campuses. the louis michel and louis aragon high schools are situated in a location with a rich historical background, the existing campuses have been extended and a new cafeteria, student housing and sports hall have been added.  the bridge building has become a distinctive icon representing the new high schoolimage © sergio grazia a room in the bridge buildingimage © sergio grazia the louis aragon school hall acts as the new central point of the new high schoolsimage © sergio grazia the new gymnasium image © sergio grazia the staggered roof highlights a more contemporary design for a schoolimage © sergio grazia happening now! partnering with antonio citterio, AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function, but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style, context, and personal expression. Just listening to Mattiussi talk was like taking a little holiday He said: “I was born and raised in Gisors in Normandy and I’ve always shown the collections in a Parisian environment I feel I want to bring back something calm The looks had an artfully thrown-together quality Mattiussi’s models rolled down the delightful wheatfield set with Cuban collar shirts half untucked over their fitted track pants—quite high-hemmed—and nylon parkas They wore broad fishing hats and oversize nubbly knit sweaters Mattiussi said he imagined they’d lifted from their dads’ stash of weekend clothes in the cottage There were nods to sportswear; fitted lycra shorts under a wide-whale brown corduroy short Much of this collection though focused on the casualized tailoring in jackets and topcoats that Mattiussi has become a master of It was highly want-able and wearable and no drama A friend wondered afterward if this collection really needs or merits a fashion show Painting a convincing scene of soft-focus respite and chill via clothing—and that wheatfield—for sure makes the clothing desirable Back to Mattiussi: “The idea is that you take a train after work with your friends you decide you are going to the end of the line—the terminus—to escape To have your coffee and stare out the window.” Had Miyake not been immediately afterward I’d have headed directly to Gare Saint-Lazare an exhibition of new and recent works by Joe Bradley in graphite Recent institutional exhibitions include MoMA PS1 France (2017); and Albright-Knox Art Gallery get ready to discover a little-known period of the artistic life of Pablo Picasso: his move to Château de Boisgeloup in Normandy in the early 1930s marked the start of an intense period inspired by his new muse To help you to understand this multifaceted genius no fewer than three museums from the Reunion des Musées Métropolitains (RMM) are coming together to plunge you into the heart of the artist’s creative universe BOISGELOUP : THE NORMAN WORSHOP OF PICASSO Picasso purchased the Boisgeloup Château near Gisors he turned this place into a temporary residence in particular arranging his first sculpture workshop there Secretly in love with Marie-Thérèse Walter he experienced an intensely creative period that was also expressed through painting when inspiration is renewed with a secret love is revealed in France for the first time in an exhibition that brings together almost two hundred works and documents thanks to both the National Museum Picasso in Paris and private collections a whole season devoted to modernity will be organised within the Métropole Rouen Normandie in partnership with universities and the Ville et Pays d’Art et d’Histoire (Towns and Regions of Art and History) label After experimenting with ceramics at the start of his career Picasso took up this medium once again in Vallauris from 1946 which saw his creative genius giving new life to an age-old practice to which the artist was particularly attached The exhibition of the Rouen Museum of Ceramics aims to highlight the sculptural dimension of this work along with its dazzling innovations Ceramics enabled Picasso to develop new sculptural concepts and Julio Gonzalez was the first sculptor to have considered iron as a material for use in modern art His friendship with Picasso was instrumental in the careers of both artists the exhibition attempts to retrace the evolution of the work of each artist This joint exhibition includes around forty loans from the National Museum of Modern Art and is part of the calendar of festivities organised to mark 40 years of the Pompidou Centre Picasso posant avec les sculptures en plâtre Tête de femme (1931) Buste de femme (Marie-Thérèse) (1931) et Tête en pierre taillée (1933) © Succession Picasso 2016 / © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso - Paris) / Mathieu Rabeau S'abonner Réunion des Musées Métropolitains Rouen Normandie By: FEI | August 12 Japan’s Yoshiaki Oiwa is no stranger to success having claimed double gold at last year’s Asian Games in Jakarta (INA) and the three-time Olympian has put down a strong marker for the home side by taking the early lead after today’s Dressage phase at the Ready Steady Tokyo test event previously ridden by Frenchman Matthieu Lemoine on the gold medal team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Oiwa earned top marks from all three judges to lead the field on a mark of 24.5 The 43-year-old has been based in Europe for almost 20 years “I’m a home country rider and I’ve been based in Europe for the last 18 19 years,” he said after his Dressage performance here at the Equestrian Park this morning “So many people are supporting and helping me so this is a very very good chance to show what I’m doing and what this sport is about Hopefully we can do the best performance and all the Japanese people do their best and get medals.” Australia’s triple Olympic team gold medalist Andrew Hoy is 3.2 penalties adrift in second with Bloom Des Hauts Crets fractionally ahead of Germany’s double Olympic champion Michael Jung on Fischerwild Wave with 28.0 with Japan’s Ryuzo Kitajima and Vick Du Gisors JRA fourth on 28.2 and Germany’s Peter Thomsen with Horseware Nobleman fifth with 29.50 Kuzuma Tomoto is another of the contingent flying the flag for Japan and he sits in sixth with Tacoma d’Horset on 30.4 a single point but three places ahead of his trainer British legend William Fox-Pitt with Summer At Fernhill The Japanese athletes are increasingly a force to be reckoned with finishing fourth and just out of the medals at last year’s FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Tryon (USA) Tomoto commented: “Our team is really tough and has got strong quickly that’s why we have to improve more and more We have lots of nice riders so we can do it for sure.” has now been withdrawn after placing last of the 17 starters in today’s Dressage on 40.8 The rest of the horses have been transported to the stables at Sea Forest where they will spend the night before tomorrow’s cross country Derek Di Grazia’s 3,025 metre track incorporates 20 fences with 31 jumping efforts but the American designer is giving nothing away about his track for the 2020 Games the 20 National Olympic and Paralympic Committees that are onsite for the official observers programme are making the most of the opportunity to see the terrain at Sea Forest and test the facilities at both venues action returns to the equally stunning new facilities at Baji Koen site of the Olympic equestrian events at the 1964 Tokyo Games The Baji Koen refurbishment has been funded independently by the Japan Racing Association and will provide an extraordinary legacy for the residents of Tokyo as will the park that will be created on the reclaimed land at Sea Forest which also hosts rowing and canoe sprint next year Ready Steady Tokyo equestrian test event (placings after Dressage): 1 Australia’s Bloom Des Hauts Crets (Andrew Hoy) Japan’s Vick Du Gisors JRA (Ryuzo Kitajima) Germany’s Horseware Nobleman (Peter Thomsen) For over 50 years Horse Sport has been the voice of equestrian competition in Canada and breeders who are highly involved in the equine marketplace Developed by The Web Developer LLC Artlyst Sean Scully Unveils Exhibition At Picasso’s Château de Boisgeloup A new exhibition of paintings and sculpture by the contemporary Irish/American artist Sean Scully (b Dublin) has opened in Picasso’s historic former studio at the Château de Boisgeloup Located near the village of Gisors in Normandy the Château de Boisgeloup is an 18th-century building purchased by Pablo Picasso in 1930 Picasso used his studio at Boisgeloup to create exceptional sculptures and iconic paintings genres and styles during a very productive creative period Scully utilizes the entirety of this enchanting setting—presenting nearly a dozen new and recent works within Picasso’s historic studio space itself “We’re excited to share this intimate and private place with the public and to draw upon its incredible visual and historical context to create a dynamic platform for Scully’s new and recent work Bringing Scully’s work together with the rich history of Picasso’s studio allows us to engage with this special place in a new and exciting way and to create a dialogue with the past and the future through an unexpected and compelling exhibition.” the show comprises paintings from Scully’s ‘Landline’ which demonstrate the artist’s signature motif of abundant painterly abstraction and expressive rendering of colour and texture through the use of repetitive forms are being presented in the historic studio space itself the presentation features two figurative paintings—an unexpected departure from his signature style of abstraction—both titled Madonna (2019) These profoundly personal works depict the artist’s son and wife on the beach in Eleuthera Scully’s bronze Coin Stack (2018) represents an abstracted expression of the artist himself and his life—the title referring to a time during his childhood when Scully’s father would bring home tips and count them in stacks on the kitchen table Scully’s monumental 10foot-tall sculpture composed of vibrantly painted stacks of aluminium presides over the Château’s expansive lawn Sean Scully grew up in London and settled in America in the mid-1970s One of the most admired abstract painters working today his work draws on the traditions of European painting invigorated with the distinct character of American abstraction In a career spanning six decades – and counting – Scully has risen to international prominence with work held in significant public collections worldwide Scully’s varied practice encompasses printmaking monumental abstract paintings in which stripes or blocks of layered colour are a prevailing motif “Sean Scully re-imagines the history of abstraction as an art rooted in experience one that seeks to purify how we encounter the world—“something felt and something seen,” as he has said his work stages an intense dialogue between colour and form but a colour that is always rooted in a particular place and form that manifests the self.” (Joanna Kleinberg and Brett Littman p.29) Sean Scully was elected a Royal Academician in 2013 He has been shortlisted for the Turner Prize twice Scully’s work is held in numerous public collections UK; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen K20K21 AT; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Sean Scully Celtique October 26 — November 17 Read More Visit VBLACK|Look of The Day|Paris fashion week recap Once again for this season we can say: les jeux sont faits Guerre has chased down with us the looks on the streets of Paris: a fulcrum of ideas and styles thanks to fashion week let's see some suggested by the stars of these street styles Total black for VV Brown, who we meet in this column some weeks ago, and for Des Lewis, guest at the Chloé fashion show Another declared fan of Muccia is Shala Monroque who was seen in many front rows in the four major fashion weeks Coming back to the recurring moods we point out military looks but in a more easy and urban version fashion and style critic Robin Givhan and Dari Goldman Angie Rubini has guided us to the discovery of bright colors for spring/summer, to which not even Catherine Kallon blogger Yanique Francis and Aren Dumars could resist Freestyle is, instead, the style of editor Anais Obenson and of Andréa Bomo, while stylist Janine Jauvel pays tribute to the 70s. The brim hat, evergreen of the male guardrobe, and not only, is a loved item by Kristina Gisors and Tootie York And lastly we have meet Kenya Hunt and Shiona Turini again, respectively contributor for Vogue.it and accessory editor of Teen Vogue Vittoria Mentasti's Dead Sea takes us to a place where the sky and the sea are one A chat with Kristin Prim, the founder of The Provocateur, the site that publishes letters written expressely by leading women addressing the whole female world. Vogue.it presents you an exclusive preview of the letter written by Dresden Dolls' Amanda Palmer During the Yeezy Season 3 fashion show, Kanye West presented his new album, The Life of Pablo. Here's everything you need to know (and let's get ready to the fight with Taylor Swift) The most exclusive parties at the New York Fashion Week All the best street style spotted at New York Fashion Week From New York Fashion Week Fall Winter 2016/17 Menswear and womenswear collections will walk together and will be on sale right after the show. These are the news from Burberry but the evolution is generalized: runway shows are changing The documentary that celebrates 3.1 Phillip Lim's tenth anniversary The latest social media initiatives dedicated to the Fashion world The (Perfumes) Factory - P.zza Castello 27 - 20121 Milano cap.soc 00834980153 società con socio unico Father Wenscelas Munyeshyaka(L) surrounded by Rwandan soldiers The umbrella of Genocide survivors association in Rwanda has expressed disappointment about a French court’s decision to drop the case of Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka Father Munyeshyaka was a vicar at Saint Famille Catholic Church in Kigali during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi During the Genocide, thousands Tutsis went to seek protection at St. Famille church In collaboration with Prefect of Kigali Tharcisse Renzaho Munyeshyaka is accused of killing innocent Tutsi and raping women who sought refuge at the nearby St Paul Center and at the church itself Munyeshyaka is seen in military attire during the Genocide period he fled to France where he is allegedly still serving as a priest at Gisors Parish in Evreux Diocese a French court had ruled that Munyeshyaka would not stand trial for all charges leveled against him The courts cited “poor quality of evidence.” several civil society organizations operating in France including CPCR (Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda) appealed against that decision in a Paris court Ever since, the hearing of this appeal has been postponed on several occasions “The investigation started 20 years ago and the final ruling was made by the French Justice today-Thursday,” writes Radio France Internationale(rfi) FR Munyeshyaka(Right) is still ministering in France “Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka will never be charged on his alleged role in the 1994 Genocide,” rfi further writes We know they have heard all witnesses; everyone who needed evidence be it the media and the court itself were given the opportunity to get them on the ground,” said Naphtal Ahishakiye “We would ask other institutions that provide justice beyond France as a country to challenge this decision so that one day this man is brought to book.” When contacted Johnston Busingye Rwanda’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General told KT Press it was too early to comment about the case basing on the little information in the media This so-called priest will have to face it soon or later