Ancien Evêché - Ancien Hôtel de ville
PalaceHidden Treasure
Former palace of the bishops of Sarlat, this Gothic and Renaissance building has passed through the centuries to become a town hall, theatre, market… then a showcase for Périgord tourism.
History
In the heart of Sarlat-la-Canéda, one of the best-preserved medieval centres in France, the former bishop's palace stands as a silent witness to seven centuries of institutional and urban history. Its north facade, crowned by an elegant loggia, sits alongside the typical Périgord Noir slate roofs, while its composite volumes betray a long and rich architectural biography. What makes the building truly singular is its remarkable ability to have successively embodied all the major functions of power: spiritual power under the bishops, civil power under the Revolution, cultural power with its Italian-style theatre, and now hospitality power with the tourist office. Few monuments in France condense so many lives into a single building. Visiting the former bishop's palace is first and foremost a way of soaking up the atmosphere of the old town of Sarlat, of which it is one of the key landmarks. The exhibition rooms that it houses today allow visitors to enter interiors that blend medieval structures, Renaissance mouldings and 17th and 18th century additions with surprising coherence. It's an ideal setting for heritage enthusiasts who want to understand how an episcopal city was built and evolved. As you walk up the rue de la République or emerge from the neighbouring Saint-Sacerdos cathedral, the building is revealed in all its complexity, at the crossroads of the sacred and the secular, the ancient and the reconstructed.
Architecture
The former bishop's residence of Sarlat has a composite architecture, the result of several building campaigns spanning the 15th to 18th centuries. The Gothic foundations of the original abbey dwelling can be seen here, backed by the polygonal stair tower from the second half of the 15th century, a typical feature of Périgord architecture from this period. The sober, robust masonry of blond Sarladais limestone imbues the whole with the warm, mineral tone that characterises the whole of the town's historic centre. The Renaissance campaigns of the late 15th and early 16th centuries introduced mullioned windows, moulded frames and discreet decorative details, reflecting a new awareness of Italian forms, without breaking with the local building tradition. The extension at the end of the 17th century added more classically proportioned volumes, with regularly punctuated openings and cornices emphasising the horizontal nature of the elevations. The latest and most spectacular feature is the loggia that crowns the north facade, added at the turn of the twentieth century when the theatre was converted. This arcaded appendage, unusual for a building of this type and period, creates a striking contrast with the lower medieval foundations, and is in itself a striking illustration of the building's plural destiny. The interior preserves traces of each of these periods: barrel vaults, old floors and rooms of varying proportions, making the visit particularly instructive for those interested in the evolution of the building's uses and techniques.
Related Figures
Raymond de Roquecorn — premier évêque de Sarlat (1318), commanditaire indirectement lié aux débuts du palaisJean XXII — pape ayant créé le diocèse de Sarlat en 1317 par bulle pontificaleArmand de Gontaut-Biron — évêque de Sarlat au XVIIe siècle, période des grands agrandissements du palaisNicolaï de Clermont-Tonnerre — dernier évêque de Sarlat avant la suppression du diocèse en 1790Fénelon (François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon) — futur archevêque de Cambrai, né à Sarlat en 1651, contemporain du palais agrandi
