Bordeaux : jusqu’en 1800, un immense château faisait face à la porte Cailhau
Through Nicolas gosselin
Published on
In the hypercentre of Bordeaux, tourists and locals alike enjoy a drink on the Palace square, often transformed into gigantic terrace by all bars and Restaurants that surround it.
But who knows that where is At Fred, one of the essential bars of the place, enthroned “the largest medieval palace in the Duchy of Aquitaine ». Word of a historian!
A residence of the Court of England
It was created in the Middle Ages, from the 11e century, and was at one time the residence of the Dukes of Aquitaine. Louis VII and Aliénor d’Aquitaine stayed there in particular, then the English Court, when Bordeaux came under English influence with the Plantagenêt dynasty.
“It was a huge monument,” says Yves simone, a guide to Bordeaux.
It contained a room that was 45 meters long and 21 meters wide. It was a real medieval palace. It was built to the south-east of the Roman rampart which should strengthen, located at the level of the current Alsace-Lorraine course.
According to him, the Ombrière palace – this is what it was called because of the shade of the large trees that surrounded it – faced the Cailhau gate. It corresponded to the blocks of buildings of which the Chez Fred bar, on the one hand on the rue du Palais de l’Ombrière, and the restaurant Chiocchio on the other hand, serve as a facade from the Place du Palais.
The Ombrière palace opened the Parliament of Guyenne
And we must therefore imagine that it extended to the course Alsace-Lorraine and more or less to the rue des Bahutiers. And the rue du Palais de l’Ombrière would open this magnificent building in two, if it still existed.
Because, yes, it was completely destroyed in 1800 as it was no longer useful. “After the Hundred Years War, with the attachment of Bordeaux to the French crown, Louis XI installed the Parliament of Guyenne there from 1462,” recalls Yves Simone. But after the French Revolution, Parliament was no longer useful. Decisions were taken in Paris. “
The palace having fallen into disuse, become sale and aging, it was therefore razed to make beautiful buildings. The stones were collected to construct other buildings.
The Place du Palais was the scene of executions
From this former seat of theAdmiralty of Guyenne, in front of which the condemned was hanged and which was also a prison, whose architectural ensemble was strongly marked by the architect of the 17th century Claude perrault – which speaks of “a rather mediocre room which has a row of pillars in the middle which is two aisles wide, all dirty and messy” – there is nothing left.
Know at least, when you have a drink in the Place du Palais, that in a distant time, crossbowmen you had within shooting range from the main tower of the Ombrière palace, a dungeon called the “Arbalesteyre” tower. (You can not make that up).
They protected the fortified castle from possible invaders, who could arrive by the river then the Cailhau gate (which must be imagined fortified at the time with a harrow). Attackers since replaced by hordes of tourists.
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