Immeuble dit Enclos des Décormis
MonumentHidden Treasure
Immeuble dit Enclos des Décormis, 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
- 43.5132, 5.4448
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00081067
In the heart of historic Aix-en-Provence, the Enclos des Décormis is a 17th-century Baroque mansion with secret inner courtyards, a discreet testament to the Provençal parliamentary aristocracy.
History
Hidden away in the labyrinth of medieval streets in the Mazarin district and old Aix, the Enclos des Décormis is one of a constellation of private mansions that make the city an open-air museum of Provençal civil architecture. Where other monuments stand out for their monumentality, this one captivates visitors with the subtlety of its proportions and the restrained elegance of its ochre and freestone facades, characteristic of local taste at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. The term "enclosure" is fully meaningful here: the building complex does not reveal itself at first glance. You have to push open a carriage entrance and pass through a vaulted porch to discover the inner logic of the site - a paved courtyard surrounded by superimposed dwellings, punctuated by arcades and generously curved wrought-iron balustrades. This layout around an enclosed central space is typical of the grand residences of Aix, inherited from both the Roman palace and the Tuscan villa. The attentive visitor will notice the quality of the window surrounds, the careful modelling of the cornices and the sculpted details that punctuate the street façade. These ornaments bear witness to a wealthy patron, probably a member of the nobility or the upper classes of the trade, who wished to display his social success in stone without being ostentatious. Aix-en-Provence boasts one of the finest collections of Baroque civil architecture in France, and the Enclos des Décormis is one of the most important links in the chain, although it remains largely unknown to the general public. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1942, its protection guarantees the preservation of its most remarkable features, in a city where every street is home to a masterpiece from the parliamentary period.
Architecture
The Enclos des Décormis is part of the Provençal Baroque style as it developed in Aix-en-Provence during the 17th century, an architectural idiom that borrows its compositional principles from the great Roman Baroque - symmetry of facades, play on volumes, rich sculptural details - while tempering them with classical restraint and adaptation to local materials, in particular the white limestone and golden molasse quarried in the region. The façade on the street has all the usual features of a private mansion in Aix: a monumental portal with pilasters and moulded architraves opening onto a cross-vaulted porch, mullioned windows framed by dressed stone, and a prominent cornice crowning the whole. The inner courtyard, accessible from this porch, forms the architectural heart of the complex: it distributes the various main buildings in an orderly fashion, with wrought-iron galleries or balconies with elaborate railings, typical of the work of Provençal ironworkers during the Grand Siècle. In keeping with Provençal custom, the roofs are covered with low-sloping Roman tiles, in contrast to the flat tiles of northern France. The interiors, although less accessible to the public, probably retain elements characteristic of the Aix residence: monumental coloured marble fireplaces, French or Provençal-style ceilings and staircases with wrought-iron banisters. The whole ensemble is a coherent testimony to the art of living of a cultivated provincial elite, at a time when Aix radiated throughout Provence as a hotbed of intellectual and artistic life.
Related Figures
Famille Décormis — famille éponyme, propriétaires fondateurs issus de la bourgeoisie parlementaire ou marchande aixoise du XVIIe siècleMichel Mazarin — archevêque d'Aix et frère du Cardinal, initiateur de l'extension urbaine du quartier Mazarin qui transforme la ville au XVIIe siècleLouis de Vendôme — gouverneur de Provence, mécène du développement urbain baroque d'Aix-en-ProvenceJean-Claude Rambot — sculpteur et maître maçon aixois du XVIIe siècle, figure centrale de l'ornementation baroque des hôtels particuliers de la villePierre Puget — génie de la sculpture baroque provençale, dont l'influence imprègne toute la production ornementale aixoise et marseillaise du XVIIe siècle
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Immeuble dit Enclos des Décormis located?
Immeuble dit Enclos des Décormis is located in Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, France.
When was Immeuble dit Enclos des Décormis built?
Immeuble dit Enclos des Décormis dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Immeuble dit Enclos des Décormis open to visitors?
Immeuble dit Enclos des Décormis is currently closed to visitors.