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Bordeaux in the South West of France is a wonderful experience with lots of both architecture and gastronomy. It is a city known for the good life in the region and for the many beautiful buildings you can see here. In France, only Paris offers more so-called Monuments Historiques than Bordeaux.
The name Bordeaux is of course known from the world of wine, and as the center of a famous wine-producing region, Bordeaux has a significant influence on the world of wine. However, Bordeaux is also much more than wine and good food, and many lovely walks await in the streets.
The city’s large squares along the western bank of the Garonne are landmarks of the city. The beautiful 18th century buildings on the Place de la Bourse and the colossal Place des Quinconces are the most famous, and if you move further into the city center, you can see the cathedral and other interesting buildings.
The area around Bordeaux offers many opportunities for good day trips. There is never a long way to new wine districts, and here are beaches, magnificent scenery and thermal baths. You can also visit the small and large southwestern French cities or cross the Spanish border to eg San Sebastián.
Place de la Bourse is a large and beautiful square that is perhaps Bordeaux’s best-known landmark. The square was laid out from the 1730s to 1775 along the western bank of the river Garonne. It was King Louis XV’s chief architect, Ange-Jacques Gabriel, who designed the Place de la Bourse in the years 1735-1738. Gabriel then also designed the buildings to be erected along the square.
There was originally an equestrian statue of Louis XV in the center of the Place de la Bourse, but it was taken down in 1792 in connection with the French Revolution. The equestrian statue was melted down and instead used to cast cannons. In place of the statue, a Corinthian column fountain was erected in 1828, but it was replaced in 1869 by the current fountain, the Fontaine des Trois Grâces, representing Zeus’ daughters Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia.
The Place de la Bourse is one of the most representative works of classical French architectural art of the 18th century and is a remarkable example of the royal squares of the time. To the north is the building Palais de la Bourse, which was built 1742-1749 and which today is the seat of Bordeaux’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry. To the south is the Hôtel des Douanes, which was built as a customs building and which today houses the customs museum Musée National des Douanes.
La Grosse Cloche is a 40 meter high bell tower that was built as a gate in Bordeaux’s medieval grounds and as a bell tower for the city’s town hall. The gate was built in the 15th century on the remains of the former city gate Porte Saint-Éloy, which had stood here since the 13th century. Both the former and the current gate are also known as Porte Saint-James because it leads to the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.
Over the years, La Grosse Cloche has been important to Bordeaux and to the city’s citizens. The magistrate rang the bell, for example, to signal the harvest and to warn the population in the event of fires. The gate became a symbol of the city and it appears in Bordeaux’s coat of arms. When the citizens of Bordeaux rebelled against the king, he removed the tower’s bell as punishment in 1548, and it did not return until 1561.
The gate consists of two circular towers with a height of 40 meters, and they were combined with a central building. In the middle is the entrance to the gate, and above it is the tower clock and the bell itself, which has given rise to the name La Grosse Cloche. The current bell was cast in 1775, it is two meters high and it weighs 7,750 kilos. The tower clock was built in 1759 according to the design of the mathematician and astronomer Paul Larroque.
Cathédrale Saint-André is the name of Bordeaux’s cathedral, which is the city’s largest and most important church. With a length of 124 metres, a width of 18 meters in the transept, a height of 23 meters in the nave and a height of 29 meters in the choir, the cathedral is an impressive building. In its original form, the cathedral was consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1096, and it hosted the wedding of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII in 1137.
Since its inauguration, the church has been expanded and rebuilt over the centuries, and the current building mainly dates from the 13th-15th centuries and is in Gothic architecture. The cathedral has a distinctive feature compared to many other French cathedrals. The architectural focus was not on the western facade, but rather on the four towers surrounding the crossing, which became more representative than the facade. This was due to the fact that Bordeaux was under the control of the English crown at the time of expansion.
The northern portal dates from the beginning of the 14th century, and it shows a rich sculptural decoration with figures of the archbishops of Bordeaux. Here are also the cathedral’s two 81 meter high towers with pointed, Gothic tower tops. In front of the chancel on the southeast side of the cathedral, you can see the free-standing Tour Pey-Berland bell tower, built 1440–1466 and named after Archbishop Pey-Berland. In 1863, the 50-metre-high tower was raised to 66 metres.
When you visit the large and impressive church room, you can see that the cathedral was built over several centuries. You can see, for example, the difference in the construction and decoration of the north and south sides of the church. While the nave of the cathedral is composed of a mixture of elements from different periods and styles, the chancel is strictly in a single style. The height and width of the chancel differ from the nave, but this was resolved architecturally.
There are several chapels worth seeing that practically radiate from the eastern end of the church. The chapels in the cathedral have various dedications to, among other things, the Sacred Heart. There are also several chapels on the north and south sides of the cathedral. There are also some beautiful glass mosaics in the large church. However, only a few preserved mosaics from the Middle Ages remain, while the rest are from the 19th century, where they were installed from 1852 by the glassmaker Joseph Villiet and later by Henry Feur.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts is one of the largest and finest art galleries in France outside of Paris. The museum was founded in 1801 with the painter Pierre Lacour as curator, and it was first set up together with a library and later in a hall in the city’s town hall. Today, the museum is located in the side wings of the beautiful Palais Rohan, which is Bordeaux’s town hall. The wings were built in the years 1875-1881, and the Galerie des Beaux-Arts a little to the northwest was built 1936-1939.
The museum’s largest collection is composed of countless paintings, and the foundation of the collection was created by state donations in 1803 and 1805, when 44 works by European painters went to the museum. The Musée des Beaux-Arts opened to the public in 1810, and since then the collection has grown considerably. The focus is on works by French, Flemish and Dutch painters. You can see works by, for example, Frans Hals, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Auguste Renoir and Pablo Picasso. There are also quite a few sculptures, prints and drawings in the museum.
Cité Frugès de Pessac is a residential neighborhood in the Bordeaux suburb of Pessac, located southwest of the city center. It was built 1924-1926 on the initiative of the industrialist Henri Frugès, who had the architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret develop a master plan for the area and the neighbourhood’s individual buildings.
It was intended that 135 homes would be built, but due to financing, only 51 were built. The homes were sold individually, and many of the owners changed the houses, but they are still very distinctive in the cityscape today, and the neighborhood has become a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, which consists of Le Corbusier’s works in several places around the world.
You can see the houses in Cité Frugès de Pessac in the streets Rue le Corbusier, Rue des Arcades and Rue Henri Frugès. The houses were to be workers’ housing, which Frugès commissioned near his sawmill and factories, and Frugès gave Le Corbusier the opportunity to test his ideas of purism, standardization, efficiency and machine production with the neighborhood.
Cité du Vin is a modern wine project in Bordeaux that combines a wine museum and a number of other wine-themed experiences. The place was opened in May 2016 by the then French President François Hollande, and it is naturally located in Bordeaux, one of the world’s most famous wine regions.
The Cité du Vin was built in Bacalan, a northern district of Bordeaux located on the left bank of the Garonne River in the port district of Port de la Lune. Construction began in 2014, and the result stands as one of the city’s best-known profiles in modern architecture. There are 2,500 reflective aluminum panels on the facade of the building’s 55 meter high tower, giving the impression of wine in a glass.
At the museum in the Cité du Vin, you go on a great wine journey around the world, which affects the senses and inspires interactivity. In the exhibition you can experience, among other things, the world’s vineyards, climates, grapes and terroirs. Naturally, you also get to see Bordeaux’s many lovely wines and the wine history of the region.
The Grand Théâtre is Bordeaux’s beautiful theater building, inaugurated in 1780. It was the architect Victor Louis who designed the building. Louis later became known for several facilities in Paris such as the Théâtre Français. The interior main staircase of the theater in Bordeaux also became the inspiration for the staircase in the Opéra Garnier in the French capital.
The Grand Théâtre was built in Neoclassicism with a facade where the 12 Corinthian columns of the portico carry an entablature on which stand 12 figures representing nine Muses and the goddesses Juno, Venus and Minerva. It was the sculptor Pierre-François Berruer who was behind the statues of the 12 figures.
The interior of the theater is also worth seeing. On the ceiling of the auditorium there is a large fresco painted by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Robin. The work pays tribute to the art, the craftsmen who built the building and the city of Bordeaux. You can see an allegorical figure of a woman who symbolizes Bordeaux and who is protected by Hermes and Athena. In the foreground are the wine, shipping and slaves, which were three riches in the city.
Palais Rohan is the name of Bordeaux’s fine town hall building, which was built in the years 1771-1784. The large mansion was built to be the archbishop’s residence, and it was Ferdinand Maximilien Mériadec, who was archbishop and prince of Rohan, who initiated the construction. The new residence was to replace a residence from the Middle Ages, which the newly appointed archbishop did not find suitable.
The new building was designed by the architect Richard-François Bonfin, who built the residence palace as a Hôtel particulier, which means that the house itself lies between an entrance courtyard and a garden behind it. The facade was built in an austere Louis XVI style, and the garden was laid out as a formal French garden. It was later converted into an English landscape garden.
The impressive mansion was the archbishop’s residence for a relatively few years. After the French Revolution, from 1791 the residence became the seat of the prefecture of the Gironde region, and in 1837 the house was set up as Bordeaux’s town hall. In the interior you can see the town hall of the town hall, which was established in 1889 in a style typical of public buildings in the Third Republic. In addition to being the town hall, the mansion also housed the art museum Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux.
The Pont de Pierre is a famous bridge that crosses the Garonne River in central Bordeaux. The bridge was conceived on the initiative of Napoleon in the early 1800s. At that time, it was necessary to use boats to cross the Garonne, and this was also true for Napoleon’s soldiers on the way to Spain. And so Napoleon wanted to build a bridge quickly, which resulted in a design with a wooden bridge.
However, the Pont de Pierre did not manage to be built for the original purpose, nor with the intended material. The bridge was built 1819-1822, and the 487 meter long structure was built of stone. It stood as the only bridge in Bordeaux over the Garonne until a railway bridge was opened in 1860, and it was not until 1965 that a supplementary road bridge was inaugurated.
When building the Pont de Pierre, engineers Claude Deschamps and Jean-Baptiste Billaudel were challenged by both high tides and a strong current in the Garonne. The bridge was built with 17 arches, a number that corresponded to the number of letters in Napoleon Bonaparte’s name. Today, the bridge is reserved for public transport, bicycles and pedestrians.
Porte Cailhau is a beautiful gate building that was built in 1494. By chance, King Charles VIII won a victory over the Italians at Fornovo in 1495, and so the gate was used to commemorate the victory. The 25-metre high gate was built into Bordeaux’s defense walls in the same place where a previous gate had stood since the 14th century. On the city side, you can see building parts and doors that previously provided access to the historic ramparts and walls.
The gate formed the city’s main entrance from the river port. Among other things, it gave access to the Palais de l’Ombrière, which was the residence of the Dukes of Guyenne. Porte Cailhau was architecturally built in the transition between the Gothic and the Renaissance, and there is a lot of decoration on it. On the river side, for example, you can see several statues. Here is Charles VIII, the Evangelist John the Evangelist and Cardinal d’Épernay, who was Archbishop of Bordeaux and who was at the King’s side during the Battle of Fornovo.
Tour Pey-Berland is a free-standing tower that was built in the years 1440-1500 as a bell tower for Bordeaux’s cathedral, which could thereby be spared from vibrations from the bells. Construction started when Pey Berland was Archbishop of Bordeaux and the tower was named after him.
When the Tour Pey-Berland was completed, the church did not have the money for the planned bells, and therefore the tower was used for living. It took until 1790, when a lead foundry was started in the tower instead of the residence, and after hanging the bells, the tower got its planned purpose.
The tower was originally built with a height of 50 meters, but in 1863 it was raised to 66 meters with a tower hat with the statue of Tour Pey Berland on top. Tour Pey-Berland is today open to visitors who want to walk the more than 200 steps to the top. From here you have a fantastic view over Bordeaux.
Église Sainte-Croix is a fine Romanesque church that was built in the 11th and 12th centuries as a church for an abbey in the Benedictine order. The monastery is believed to have been founded in the 6th century, but it was destroyed several times before the current monastery church was built. After centuries of decay, the abbey was rebuilt 1664-1672, and since 1890 these buildings have housed the École des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux.
The church has a floor plan like a Latin cross. It consists of a 39 meter long nave with chapels on each side of the church space. In the Romanesque period, the church had flat wooden ceilings, and the Gothic vaults were added in the 12th-13th centuries. The windows in the aisles were also first added in the early Gothic period. In the 19th century, a symmetrical bell tower was added on the left side of the facade, giving the church its current appearance. In the church you can see, among other things, two paintings by Guillaume Cureau.
Basilique Saint-Michel is a Gothic church that was built in the 14th-15th centuries with gradual completion in 1473 and 1493. The dimensions of the church are impressive with a length of 75 meters and a width of 38 meters, making it one of the largest churches in Bordeaux. The free-standing bell tower is 114 meters high, and it was built as the city’s tallest tower.
The church space is large and worth seeing with, among other things, large glass mosaics from the 16th century to the 20th century, where new works of art replaced earlier ones that were destroyed during the Second World War. There are also 17 side chapels in the Basilique Saint-Michel, and each is worth seeing in its own right with its decorations. The nave is 23 meters high, and it is completely covered by an elongated ribbed vault, which together with the rest of the interior stands as a beautifully decorated Gothic building.
Basilique Saint-Seurin is a large Romanesque basilica that was built in the 11th and 13th centuries on a site where a Christian necropolis was located from the 3rd century. According to tradition, there was also an earlier church here, whose historical roots also date back to the 4th century and to the arrival of Saint Severinus in Bordeaux. Severinus was the city’s fourth bishop and the patron saint of Bordeaux.
It is believed to have been a temple building here, which was destroyed by Vikings in the 8th century. After this, it was the 11th century, before it was decided to majorly rebuild the church, which became the current building. A few centuries later, a number of side chapels were built, which can still be seen today.
In the late 1820s, the western facade was restored, and the current neo-Romanesque facade was built on that occasion. The sculptor Dominique Fortuné Maggesi from Carrara was chosen to decorate the facade, and he adorned the entrance with statues of Saint Severinus and Saint Amand, whose meeting is depicted on the tympanum. He also produced statues of Saint John and Saint Peter, which adorn the balustrade on the top floor. This was done to give uniformity to both the facade and the Romanesque bell tower of the basilica.
In the church, there are several noteworthy details in the decoration and furnishings. Among other things, you can see a bishop’s pulpit from the 15th century, which is used for the inauguration of new archbishops. In the choir you can see the old crucifixes, which with decorations of saints, prophets etc. also date from the 15th century. You can also see beautiful glass mosaics, an archaeological crypt and the chapels that were built in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Place des Quinconces is a 25-hectare square, which makes it one of the largest squares in Europe. The large urban area was built in the years 1810-1828 on the site where the castle Château Trompette was previously located. The late medieval castle was designed by the master builder Vauban and built after the end of the Hundred Years’ War to guarantee the royal power in the city and prevent uprisings by the population. The cannons at Château Trompette were therefore aimed at the center of Bordeaux.
The large area has sides of approximately 260 meters to the north and south and approximately 150 meters to the east and west. Place des Quinconces is often used for events of a different nature. The entire square is open with interesting elements at each end. To the east stand the sostral columns, the Colonnes Rostrales, which are adorned with sculptures on top, symbolizing the trade and shipping that characterized Bordeaux until the 19th century. To the west you can see the Monument aux Girondins, a 43 meter high monument from 1902 which commemorates the revolutionary politicians who were called the Girondins.
BETASOM is the name of a submarine base that the Italian navy, Regia Marina, established during World War II. The Italians built as a base for the navy’s participation in the Axis war in the Atlantic against Allied ships. It happened as part of the Pact of Steel, which was a federal agreement between Germany and Italy that was signed in Berlin on May 22, 1939.
Bordeaux was in the German occupation zone in France, and therefore Regia Marina had easy access to build BETASOM. The base could house up to thirty submarines and had dry docks and two basins connected by locks. There were about 1,600 men based at BETASOM, with Admiral Angelo Parona in command of the submarines under the operational control of Karl Dönitz of the German Kriegsmarine.
From June 1940, three Italian submarines patrolled off the Canary Islands and Madeira, followed by three more off the Azores. When these patrols were completed, the six boats returned to their new base in Bordeaux and later patrolled the Regina Marina in the area south of Lisbon. Overall, Italian submarines operating in the Atlantic sank 109 Allied merchant ships totaling 601,425 tons, and the Regia Marina lost 16 submarines.
Admiral Dönitz decided in mid-1941 to build protective submarine houses at the base in Bordeaux. Construction began in September 1941 and was built largely with reinforced concrete. This part of the base was 245 meters wide, 162 meters deep, 19 meters high and with a roof up to 5.6 meters thick. From 1943-1944, the German Kriegsmarine used the base, which is still well preserved.
Musée d’Aquitaine is a museum where you can experience many parts of the history of the city of Bordeaux and the region of Aquitaine. The museum was created in 1962 from other museums and their historical and ethnographic collections. Today, many historical aspects are depicted through fine exhibitions with many exciting effects, paintings and so on. It is also collections from other parts of the world of France.
On the site of the museum was a monastery of the Feuillants’ order of monks from the 16th century. The monastery was closed down with the French Revolution, after which the place became a high school. The old buildings burned in 1871, and the current museum building was built as a university building in the 1880s according to the design of the architect Charles Durand. It has been a museum since 1987.
Jardin Botanique de Bordeaux is a botanical garden located as part of the public park named Jardin Public. The garden’s history began as a medical garden in 1629, but the actual botanical garden was established and planted in 1858.
Today, the botanical garden is like an open garden in the park, and you can experience, among other things, the varied plant life from Aquitaine, and there are also a number of plants from other places such as North America, Japan and China. For more botanical experiences, the Jardin Botanique de la Bastide opened on the opposite side of the river in 2003.
Arcachon is a city located on the Bassin d’Arcachon bay in the area west of the city of Bordeaux. It is a city known as a resort town with a mild climate and lovely beaches. This part of the city’s history started already in the 19th century, when the railway between Bordeaux and Arcachon opened in 1857. It made Arcachon accessible in a way that the small fishing town had not experienced before.
In the center is the city’s casino and promenade along the central beaches. Along the promenade there are cafes, restaurants and various activities in season. You can also take a walk in the city’s streets, where the town hall Mairie d’Arcachon and the church Basilique Notre-Dame d’Arcachon are among the most famous buildings. You can also go along the coast to the south, where immediately outside Arcachon you will come to the 110 meter high Dune du Pilat, which is a colossal dune over 2,500 meters in length and 500 meters in width.
Cognac is a town that has given its name to the world-famous type of alcohol that can only be produced here in the district. The city’s history really took off in the 16th century military alliance established by King Francis I of France to fight against the House of Habsburg. As a thank you, Francis I gave the town of Cognac the commercial right to participate in the salt trade along the river, and then the town developed into a center for the production of wine and spirits.
Cognac is located on the river Charente with the majority on the left bank of the river and it is cozy with several attractions today. Vieux Cognac is the name of the city’s medieval quarter, which runs from Tours Saint-Jacques along the river to the church of Saint-Léger. In this area you can see many buildings that were built from the 15th-18th centuries along the cobbled streets. This applies, for example, to Porte Saint-Jacques and Château François Ier.
Grotte de Lascaux is a cave system located near the town of Montignac in the French Dordogne. The caves are famous for the murals that cover the interior walls and ceilings. The paintings primarily represent large animals from the typical local fauna that correspond to the fossil record from the Upper Palaeolithic in the area. The many wall paintings are estimated to be up to 17,000 years old.
The cave system was discovered in 1940, when 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat was walking with his dog Robot, who was investigating a hole in a tree. After the dog’s discovery, Marcel Ravidat came back with two friends who went down the hole and found the many paintings. In 1979, the Lascaux Caves were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List and represent a large number and an early form of known art in cave paintings.
Grotte de Lascaux was opened to the public in 1948, but the site was closed again in 1963 due to the heat and humidity of the many visitors, which destroyed the cave paintings. After the closure, the paintings were restored to their original state, and instead a number of replicas were produced, so that you can still get an impression of some of the more than 6,000 figures that were drawn in the caves in their time.
La Rochelle is a port city on the French Atlantic coast. Over the centuries, the city has been an important city where ship traffic dominated. La Rochelle gained the status of a free port in 1130, and in the 1150s trade opened to English ports through the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to the English king. The presence of the Knights Templar was a third factor that made the city one of the most important ports along the coast.
Unlike other cities in western France, La Rochelle’s location did not allow access by river to the interior of the country. Nevertheless, the city maintained its importance as a port city with a large fishery in the western Atlantic and a lot of trade with America. In the years around the Napoleonic era, La Rochelle experienced a decline in trade and economy, which was not least due to the fewer French colonies in North America.
Île de Ré is an island of 85 km2, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the city of La Rochelle. Since 1987, the island has been connected to the French mainland by the Pont de l’île de Ré bridge, which makes the island easily accessible to the many tourists who come here during the season. The climate is mild with many hours of sunshine and light breezes, which you can enjoy on the island’s many sandy beaches.
There are several things to see on Île de Ré. On the eastern part of the island there are several cozy towns and vineyards, but to the northwest you can see the many salt fields where Île de Ré’s famous salt production takes place. To the northwest, you can also experience a rich birdlife in the protected natural area Réserve Naturelle de Lilleau des Niges. Far to the west, you can go to the 57 meter high Phare des Baleines lighthouse, from where there is an excellent view. You can also visit the Musée des Baleines here.
Biarritz is an elegant and well-visited seaside resort located on the French Atlantic coast close to the border with Spain. Its history as a resort started with the 19th century’s increasing tourism to popular towns along the water, and in 1840 the Biarritz town council took the initiative to attract tourists to the well-located town.
The city became particularly well-known when Empress Eugénie of France built a summer palace on the coast from 1854. The palace and the presence of the imperial family spurred the construction of fashionable hotels, casinos and luxury goods stores, and the summer palace itself was also converted into a hotel and casino after it was sold in 1880.
Eugénie’s castle burned down in 1903, but was only lavishly rebuilt, and today it stands as the Hôtel du Palais in the first row to the Atlantic Ocean. Along the water are lovely beaches, and the beaches, the sea and the waves made Biarritz the first place in Europe where surfing took place.
In Biarritz you can enjoy the view of the sea, the beautiful hotels and also take a look at the center of the cozy town. There are also several activities and museums such as the Aquarium de Biarritz, located in an art deco building from 1933, the Cité de l’Océan and the Musée Asiatica, which is a museum of Asian art. There are also several beautiful viewpoints on the rocks by the town. For example, you can go to the Rocher de la Vierge or the area by the Phare de Biarritz lighthouse.
San Sebastián is a city in the Basque Country in northern Spain, and it is also known as Donostia–San Sebastián. Humans have lived in the area for thousands of years, but settlements were founded by the Romans in the first centuries AD in the area that today forms the old town.
However, San Sebastián did not formally became a city before 1181. It developed but burned down almost completely in 1489 and was then rebuilt with stone houses. France occupied San Sebastián from 1719-1721 and again in 1813. In 1863, the city walls were demolished, making way for many new districts and thereby a larger city.
1 Avenue des 40 Journaux
aushopping.com
57 Rue de Château d’Eau
meriadeck.com
25 Rue Saint-Catherine
promenade-sainte-catherine.com
Quai des Chartrons
quaidesmarques.com
Rue Sainte-Catherine, Cours de l’Intendance
Musée d’Histoire Naturelle
5 Place Bardineau
museum-bordeaux.fr
Cap Sciences
Hangar 20, Quai de Bacalan
cap-sciences.net
Zoo de Bordeaux Pessac
3 Rue de Transvaal, Pessac
zoo-bordeaux-pessac.com
Bordeaux, France[/caption]
Overview of Bordeaux
Bordeaux in the South West of France is a wonderful experience with lots of both architecture and gastronomy. It is a city known for the good life in the region and for the many beautiful buildings you can see here. In France, only Paris offers more so-called Monuments Historiques than Bordeaux.
The name Bordeaux is of course known from the world of wine, and as the center of a famous wine-producing region, Bordeaux has a significant influence on the world of wine. However, Bordeaux is also much more than wine and good food, and many lovely walks await in the streets.
The city’s large squares along the western bank of the Garonne are landmarks of the city. The beautiful 18th century buildings on the Place de la Bourse and the colossal Place des Quinconces are the most famous, and if you move further into the city center, you can see the cathedral and other interesting buildings.
About the Whitehorse travel guide
Contents: Tours in the city + tours in the surrounding area
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The Grand Théâtre is Bordeaux’s beautiful theater building, inaugurated in 1780. It was the architect Victor Louis who designed the building. Louis later became known for several facilities in Paris such as the Théâtre Français. The interior main staircase of the theater in Bordeaux also became the inspiration for the staircase in the Opéra Garnier in the French capital.
The Grand Théâtre was built in Neoclassicism with a facade where the 12 Corinthian columns of the portico carry an entablature on which stand 12 figures representing nine Muses and the goddesses Juno, Venus and Minerva. It was the sculptor Pierre-François Berruer who was behind the statues of the 12 figures.
The interior of the theater is also worth seeing. On the ceiling of the auditorium there is a large fresco painted by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Robin. The work pays tribute to the art, the craftsmen who built the building and the city of Bordeaux. You can see an allegorical figure of a woman who symbolizes Bordeaux and who is protected by Hermes and Athena. In the foreground are the wine, shipping and slaves, which were three riches in the city.
Palais Rohan is the name of Bordeaux’s fine town hall building, which was built in the years 1771-1784. The large mansion was built to be the archbishop’s residence, and it was Ferdinand Maximilien Mériadec, who was archbishop and prince of Rohan, who initiated the construction. The new residence was to replace a residence from the Middle Ages, which the newly appointed archbishop did not find suitable.
The new building was designed by the architect Richard-François Bonfin, who built the residence palace as a Hôtel particulier, which means that the house itself lies between an entrance courtyard and a garden behind it. The facade was built in an austere Louis XVI style, and the garden was laid out as a formal French garden. It was later converted into an English landscape garden.
The impressive mansion was the archbishop’s residence for a relatively few years. After the French Revolution, from 1791 the residence became the seat of the prefecture of the Gironde region, and in 1837 the house was set up as Bordeaux’s town hall. In the interior you can see the town hall of the town hall, which was established in 1889 in a style typical of public buildings in the Third Republic. In addition to being the town hall, the mansion also housed the art museum Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux.
The Pont de Pierre is a famous bridge that crosses the Garonne River in central Bordeaux. The bridge was conceived on the initiative of Napoleon in the early 1800s. At that time, it was necessary to use boats to cross the Garonne, and this was also true for Napoleon’s soldiers on the way to Spain. And so Napoleon wanted to build a bridge quickly, which resulted in a design with a wooden bridge.
However, the Pont de Pierre did not manage to be built for the original purpose, nor with the intended material. The bridge was built 1819-1822, and the 487 meter long structure was built of stone. It stood as the only bridge in Bordeaux over the Garonne until a railway bridge was opened in 1860, and it was not until 1965 that a supplementary road bridge was inaugurated.
When building the Pont de Pierre, engineers Claude Deschamps and Jean-Baptiste Billaudel were challenged by both high tides and a strong current in the Garonne. The bridge was built with 17 arches, a number that corresponded to the number of letters in Napoleon Bonaparte’s name. Today, the bridge is reserved for public transport, bicycles and pedestrians.
Porte Cailhau is a beautiful gate building that was built in 1494. By chance, King Charles VIII won a victory over the Italians at Fornovo in 1495, and so the gate was used to commemorate the victory. The 25-metre high gate was built into Bordeaux’s defense walls in the same place where a previous gate had stood since the 14th century. On the city side, you can see building parts and doors that previously provided access to the historic ramparts and walls.
The gate formed the city’s main entrance from the river port. Among other things, it gave access to the Palais de l’Ombrière, which was the residence of the Dukes of Guyenne. Porte Cailhau was architecturally built in the transition between the Gothic and the Renaissance, and there is a lot of decoration on it. On the river side, for example, you can see several statues. Here is Charles VIII, the Evangelist John the Evangelist and Cardinal d’Épernay, who was Archbishop of Bordeaux and who was at the King’s side during the Battle of Fornovo.
Tour Pey-Berland is a free-standing tower that was built in the years 1440-1500 as a bell tower for Bordeaux’s cathedral, which could thereby be spared from vibrations from the bells. Construction started when Pey Berland was Archbishop of Bordeaux and the tower was named after him.
When the Tour Pey-Berland was completed, the church did not have the money for the planned bells, and therefore the tower was used for living. It took until 1790, when a lead foundry was started in the tower instead of the residence, and after hanging the bells, the tower got its planned purpose.
The tower was originally built with a height of 50 meters, but in 1863 it was raised to 66 meters with a tower hat with the statue of Tour Pey Berland on top. Tour Pey-Berland is today open to visitors who want to walk the more than 200 steps to the top. From here you have a fantastic view over Bordeaux.
Église Sainte-Croix is a fine Romanesque church that was built in the 11th and 12th centuries as a church for an abbey in the Benedictine order. The monastery is believed to have been founded in the 6th century, but it was destroyed several times before the current monastery church was built. After centuries of decay, the abbey was rebuilt 1664-1672, and since 1890 these buildings have housed the École des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux.
The church has a floor plan like a Latin cross. It consists of a 39 meter long nave with chapels on each side of the church space. In the Romanesque period, the church had flat wooden ceilings, and the Gothic vaults were added in the 12th-13th centuries. The windows in the aisles were also first added in the early Gothic period. In the 19th century, a symmetrical bell tower was added on the left side of the facade, giving the church its current appearance. In the church you can see, among other things, two paintings by Guillaume Cureau.
Basilique Saint-Michel is a Gothic church that was built in the 14th-15th centuries with gradual completion in 1473 and 1493. The dimensions of the church are impressive with a length of 75 meters and a width of 38 meters, making it one of the largest churches in Bordeaux. The free-standing bell tower is 114 meters high, and it was built as the city’s tallest tower.
The church space is large and worth seeing with, among other things, large glass mosaics from the 16th century to the 20th century, where new works of art replaced earlier ones that were destroyed during the Second World War. There are also 17 side chapels in the Basilique Saint-Michel, and each is worth seeing in its own right with its decorations. The nave is 23 meters high, and it is completely covered by an elongated ribbed vault, which together with the rest of the interior stands as a beautifully decorated Gothic building.
Basilique Saint-Seurin is a large Romanesque basilica that was built in the 11th and 13th centuries on a site where a Christian necropolis was located from the 3rd century. According to tradition, there was also an earlier church here, whose historical roots also date back to the 4th century and to the arrival of Saint Severinus in Bordeaux. Severinus was the city’s fourth bishop and the patron saint of Bordeaux.
It is believed to have been a temple building here, which was destroyed by Vikings in the 8th century. After this, it was the 11th century, before it was decided to majorly rebuild the church, which became the current building. A few centuries later, a number of side chapels were built, which can still be seen today.
In the late 1820s, the western facade was restored, and the current neo-Romanesque facade was built on that occasion. The sculptor Dominique Fortuné Maggesi from Carrara was chosen to decorate the facade, and he adorned the entrance with statues of Saint Severinus and Saint Amand, whose meeting is depicted on the tympanum. He also produced statues of Saint John and Saint Peter, which adorn the balustrade on the top floor. This was done to give uniformity to both the facade and the Romanesque bell tower of the basilica.
In the church, there are several noteworthy details in the decoration and furnishings. Among other things, you can see a bishop’s pulpit from the 15th century, which is used for the inauguration of new archbishops. In the choir you can see the old crucifixes, which with decorations of saints, prophets etc. also date from the 15th century. You can also see beautiful glass mosaics, an archaeological crypt and the chapels that were built in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Place des Quinconces is a 25-hectare square, which makes it one of the largest squares in Europe. The large urban area was built in the years 1810-1828 on the site where the castle Château Trompette was previously located. The late medieval castle was designed by the master builder Vauban and built after the end of the Hundred Years’ War to guarantee the royal power in the city and prevent uprisings by the population. The cannons at Château Trompette were therefore aimed at the center of Bordeaux.
The large area has sides of approximately 260 meters to the north and south and approximately 150 meters to the east and west. Place des Quinconces is often used for events of a different nature. The entire square is open with interesting elements at each end. To the east stand the sostral columns, the Colonnes Rostrales, which are adorned with sculptures on top, symbolizing the trade and shipping that characterized Bordeaux until the 19th century. To the west you can see the Monument aux Girondins, a 43 meter high monument from 1902 which commemorates the revolutionary politicians who were called the Girondins.
BETASOM is the name of a submarine base that the Italian navy, Regia Marina, established during World War II. The Italians built as a base for the navy’s participation in the Axis war in the Atlantic against Allied ships. It happened as part of the Pact of Steel, which was a federal agreement between Germany and Italy that was signed in Berlin on May 22, 1939.
Bordeaux was in the German occupation zone in France, and therefore Regia Marina had easy access to build BETASOM. The base could house up to thirty submarines and had dry docks and two basins connected by locks. There were about 1,600 men based at BETASOM, with Admiral Angelo Parona in command of the submarines under the operational control of Karl Dönitz of the German Kriegsmarine.
From June 1940, three Italian submarines patrolled off the Canary Islands and Madeira, followed by three more off the Azores. When these patrols were completed, the six boats returned to their new base in Bordeaux and later patrolled the Regina Marina in the area south of Lisbon. Overall, Italian submarines operating in the Atlantic sank 109 Allied merchant ships totaling 601,425 tons, and the Regia Marina lost 16 submarines.
Admiral Dönitz decided in mid-1941 to build protective submarine houses at the base in Bordeaux. Construction began in September 1941 and was built largely with reinforced concrete. This part of the base was 245 meters wide, 162 meters deep, 19 meters high and with a roof up to 5.6 meters thick. From 1943-1944, the German Kriegsmarine used the base, which is still well preserved.
Musée d’Aquitaine is a museum where you can experience many parts of the history of the city of Bordeaux and the region of Aquitaine. The museum was created in 1962 from other museums and their historical and ethnographic collections. Today, many historical aspects are depicted through fine exhibitions with many exciting effects, paintings and so on. It is also collections from other parts of the world of France.
On the site of the museum was a monastery of the Feuillants’ order of monks from the 16th century. The monastery was closed down with the French Revolution, after which the place became a high school. The old buildings burned in 1871, and the current museum building was built as a university building in the 1880s according to the design of the architect Charles Durand. It has been a museum since 1987.
Jardin Botanique de Bordeaux is a botanical garden located as part of the public park named Jardin Public. The garden’s history began as a medical garden in 1629, but the actual botanical garden was established and planted in 1858.
Today, the botanical garden is like an open garden in the park, and you can experience, among other things, the varied plant life from Aquitaine, and there are also a number of plants from other places such as North America, Japan and China. For more botanical experiences, the Jardin Botanique de la Bastide opened on the opposite side of the river in 2003.
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