Hôtel de Suffren (ou de Forbin d'Oppède)
MonumentHidden Treasure
Hôtel de Suffren (ou de Forbin d'Oppède), located in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 43.5267, 5.4504
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00081055
Joyau baroque du Cours Mirabeau, l'hôtel de Suffren-Forbin d'Oppède incarne l'aristocratie aixoise du Grand Siècle, avec sa façade ordonnancée et ses balcons de fer forgé caractéristiques.
History
In the heart of Aix-en-Provence, a city shaped in their image by parliamentarians and the nobility of the robe during the 17th and 18th centuries, the Hôtel de Suffren - also known as the Hôtel de Forbin d'Oppède - stands out as one of the most eloquent examples of Provençal aristocratic town planning. Built according to the canons of classical French architecture with a touch of southern sensibility, this private mansion is one of a profusion of mansions in Aix, unrivalled in the south of France, earning Aix the nickname of the "Versailles of Provence". What immediately sets this building apart is the way it interacts with the street: the façade, punctuated by pilasters and crowned with moulded cornices, reveals a skilful mastery of proportions inherited from classical Roman architecture. The finely worked wrought-iron balconies - a common feature of the finest hotels on the Cours Mirabeau and adjacent streets - display a refined ornamental vocabulary, while the window surrounds in local cut stone give the whole a typically Provençal luminous sobriety. The experience of visiting the building, even from the outside, is striking: in the golden light of Aix, the façade takes on ochre and cream tones that seem to belong more to painting than masonry. Architecture buffs will see the layers of a complex family and social history, in which two great dynasties - the Suffrens and the Forbins of Oppède - left their mark on the stone and on the history of Provence. The building is set in a district that is in itself an open-air museum of Aix's private mansions: just a stone's throw away are other masterpieces in the same spirit, so that a stroll along these cobbled streets is as much an architectural stroll as a Provencal stroll. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1929, it benefits from protection that guarantees the preservation of this exceptional heritage for future generations.
Architecture
The Hôtel de Suffren-Forbin d'Oppède is fully in keeping with the tradition of the classical French town house as it was adapted in Provence during the 17th and 18th centuries. The façade, composed according to a rigorous layout inherited from Renaissance and Roman Baroque architectural treatises, features several levels separated by moulded cornices and enlivened by bays of windows framed in Rognes or Couronne stone - the light shell limestone that gives Aix mansions their characteristic blond hue. The wrought-iron balconies, decorated with plant and geometric motifs, are one of the most remarkable decorative features of the façade, testifying to the skills of Provençal ironworkers of the Grand Siècle. The interior layout follows the canonical plan of a mansion with a main building set between a courtyard and a garden, a layout inherited from Parisian architecture but interpreted to take account of the plot constraints of Aix's urban fabric. The main building, centred around a main staircase, probably made of stone with a straight or spiral flight according to local custom, distributed the reception flats on the first floor and the private flats on the upper levels. The low-sloped roofs, in keeping with southern practice and covered in Roman tiles (canal and running), accentuate the profoundly southern character of this building, despite its classical vocabulary.
Related Figures
Pierre-André de Suffren de Saint-Tropez (1729-1788), bailli de Malte et amiral, dit « le Nelson français », figure tutélaire de la famille SuffrenLes Forbin d'Oppède, grande famille parlementaire provençale ayant occupé des charges éminentes au Parlement d'Aix aux XVIIe-XVIIIe sièclesJean-Baptiste de Forbin d'Oppède, président au Parlement de Provence au XVIIe siècleLes architectes anonymes de l'école aixoise du XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle, héritiers de Pierre Pavillon et Laurent Vallon
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Hôtel de Suffren (ou de Forbin d'Oppède) located?
Hôtel de Suffren (ou de Forbin d'Oppède) is located in Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, France.
When was Hôtel de Suffren (ou de Forbin d'Oppède) built?
Hôtel de Suffren (ou de Forbin d'Oppède) dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Hôtel de Suffren (ou de Forbin d'Oppède) open to visitors?
Hôtel de Suffren (ou de Forbin d'Oppède) is currently closed to visitors.
