Immeuble
Monument
Immeuble, located in Arras (Pas-de-Calais), 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
- Arras, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.0000, 2.0000
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00107995
In the heart of Arras, this building, listed as a Historic Monument since 1919, embodies the Flemish elegance of the Grand-Place, with its baroque gabled arcades and chiselled white stone façade.
History
Arras, the capital of the Pas-de-Calais region, is world-famous for its Flemish architectural ensembles, which are rare in France. The town's two main squares - the Grand-Place and the Place des Héros - form a Northern Baroque and Renaissance ensemble, of which this listed building is one of the most precious witnesses. Protected since 20 August 1919, in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, it is part of the heritage that France was keen to preserve as a priority, so devastated was the urban fabric of Artesia by the destruction of the Great War. What sets this building apart from the many others in the city is its place in the architectural tradition of the Southern Netherlands, inherited from centuries of Burgundian and Spanish domination. Facades with stepped or scrolled gables, small-paned bow windows, pilasters and broken pediments combine here with the white limestone quarried in the region. The subsoil of Arras also conceals a network of cellars and underground galleries - the famous "boves" - which run beneath many of these buildings, providing an equally fascinating underground heritage dimension. To visit this building is to immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of a city that has rebuilt itself with meticulous care after each of its historical traumas, taking care to preserve the essential features of its Flemish identity. The arcades on the ground floor, characteristic of Arras, allow you to stroll under the shelter of the elaborate façades, creating a permanent dialogue between architecture and urban life. The surrounding environment enhances the experience: sandstone cobblestones, lively terraces and bell towers piercing the northern sky give the district an atmosphere that lovers of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century architecture will particularly appreciate. For the photographer or cultured traveller, every sculpted detail is an invitation to look up and slow down.
Architecture
The architecture of this building is in keeping with the tradition of Flemish-Baroque trading houses typical of Arras' main squares. The façade, built over arcades on the ground floor in accordance with local custom - these covered galleries allowed merchants to move around in all weathers - is laid out over several levels in white limestone quarried in the region. The vertical composition is punctuated by pilasters with composite capitals, moulded bands and mullioned or small-wooded windows, the proportions of which bear witness to a refined mastery of the canons of the Northern Renaissance. The crowning element of the façade is the most spectacular: a gable with scrolls, steps or broken pediments - depending on the period of construction or remodelling - gives the building the jagged silhouette so characteristic of the skylines of Ghent, Bruges or Lille. Sculpted dormer windows, shell niches and ornamental medallions complete this decorative vocabulary of great plastic richness. The local stone, slightly gilded in the low-angled light of the North, gives the whole structure a special luminosity in the early hours of the morning. As with most of the buildings in the Grand-Place and Place des Héros, the basement probably contains a network of barrel-vaulted or ribbed cellars - the famous "boves" of Arras - dug into the chalk and used since the Middle Ages to store goods. These underground spaces, sometimes extending over several hundred square metres, are a unique technical and heritage feature in Northern Europe.
Related Figures
Pierre Paquet — architecte en chef des Monuments Historiques, pilota la reconstruction d'Arras après 1918 en veillant à la fidélité stylistique des façadesMaximilien de Robespierre — né à Arras en 1758, il grandit dans cette ville dont les immeubles bourgeois à arcades constituaient le décor quotidien de son enfanceCharles Quint — sous son règne (XVIe siècle), l'architecture flamande-baroque connut son apogée à Arras alors sous domination espagnoleLouis XIV — la conquête définitive de l'Artois (1678) sous son règne intégra ces immeubles dans le patrimoine royal françaisEugène Viollet-le-Duc — théoricien du patrimoine dont les doctrines influencèrent la décision de classer massivement les monuments artésiens rescapés de la Grande Guerre
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Immeuble located?
Immeuble is located in Arras, Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Immeuble built?
Immeuble dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Immeuble open to visitors?
Immeuble is currently closed to visitors.