Bourges-Palais Jacques Coeur-112-2008-gje

The Palais Jacques Cœur is a large ''

hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a s ...

'' built by

Jacques Cœur Jacques Cœur (, ; in Bourges – 25 November 1456 in Chios) was a French government official and state-sponsored merchant whose personal fortune became legendary and led to his eventual disgrace. He initiated regular trade routes between Franc ...

for himself and his family in Bourges,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Built and decorated in the

flamboyant Flamboyant (from ) is a form of late Gothic architecture that developed in Europe in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, from around 1375 to the mid-16th century. It is characterized by double curves forming flame-like shapes in the bar-tr ...

style, it is widely viewed as one of the most prominent examples of French civilian architecture in the 15th century.

History

, who was born in Bourges and started his career there, bought the land in 1443 from Jean Belin, a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

of the . Coeur did not have time to enjoy it, however, as he was arrested in 1451, tried and subsequently exiled. Construction works were completed in 1453, at a time he was imprisoned. King Charles VII seized the property as Cœur was sentenced, but restored it to Cœur's children in 1457, after Cœur himself had died in exile the year before. In 1501, one of Jacques Cœur's grandsons sold it to Antoine Turpin, a local notable, who in turn sold it in 1552 to diplomat Claude de l'Aubespine, baron de Châteauneuf. In May 1679, it was attributed to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who in January 1682 returned it to the City of Bourges. After that, it hosted various municipal services. The palace suffered some damage during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, when the large

equestrian statue An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning 'knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a d ...

of Charles VII above the main entrance was destroyed. In 1820, it became a

court house A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English- ...

, hosting the ''

tribunal d'instance In France, the ''Tribunal d'instance'' (literally "Court of First Instance") is a judicial lower court of record of first instance for general civil suits and includes a criminal division, the Police Court (''tribunal de police''), which hears case ...

'' and the '' cour d'appel'' of the Cher department.

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...

identified it in 1837 as a major cultural property, and it was subsequently listed on France's first

list of historic monuments of 1840 The List of historic monuments protected in 1840 is a list of the historic monuments of France created in 1840 by the French Commission for Historical Monuments (''Commission des monuments historiques''). It was the first protection of this type i ...

. The Bourges municipality sold it to the ''département'' and the state in 1858, after which a first restoration campaign lasted until 1885. In the 1920s, the Cher ''département'' sold its share to the French state and the court activities were discontinued. A second, much more careful restoration campaign was led by architects Henri Huignard and Robert Gauchery from 1927 to 1937. The stonework was again cleaned up in the early 2000s. The Palais Jacques Cœur is now managed by the ''

Centre des monuments nationaux The Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN) (French, 'National monuments centre') is a French government body (Établissement public à caractère administratif) which conserves, restores and manages historic buildings and sites that are the propert ...

'' and open to the public as a major local tourism attraction.

Notes

Official website of Palais Jacques Cœur
{{Coord, 47.0843, 2.3935, type:landmark_region:FR, display=title Buildings and structures in Cher (department)

History

See also

Notes