Immeuble dit Maison de Lère
MonumentHidden Treasure
A Renaissance gem nestling in the hilltop village of Les Baux-de-Provence, the Maison de Lère boasts sculpted façades of Alpilles limestone, an aristocratic reminder of a town at the height of its medieval glory.
History
In the heart of one of Provence's most spectacular villages, the Maison de Lère is one of the few well-preserved examples of the wealthy domestic architecture that made Les Baux-de-Provence famous in the late Middle Ages and at the dawn of the Renaissance. Nestling in this village perched on a rocky outcrop in the Alpilles, it invites visitors to decipher in stone the ambitions of a family who were among the notables of this once-proud town. What makes the Maison de Lère so special is the way it fits into the mineral urban fabric of Les Baux. Where other residences have collapsed under the weight of the centuries and the Wars of Religion, this one has preserved its volumes and part of its sculpted decoration, revealing the care taken by its patrons to represent their rank. The mouldings of its openings, typical of 16th-century Provençal architectural vocabulary, interact with the bare rock that rises up from all sides in this cliff village. Visiting the Maison de Lère also means immersing yourself in the timeless atmosphere of Les Baux-de-Provence, one of France's most beautiful villages. The blond limestone of the Alpilles absorbs and restores light with a particular generosity, especially in the late afternoon when the facades are ablaze in golden hues. The house is part of a dense heritage itinerary, just a stone's throw from the ruined castle, the Renaissance town houses and the museums that line the main street. The setting of Les Baux amplifies the emotion: dominating the Crau and Camargue plains from an altitude of 245 metres, the village offers a breathtaking panorama that naturally links civil architecture to the history of one of the most powerful seigneuries in medieval Provence. The Maison de Lère, which has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1905, is an integral part of this exceptional heritage.
Architecture
The Maison de Lère is in the tradition of Provençal domestic architecture of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, characterised by a sober but carefully crafted facade, pierced by mullioned or transomed windows whose Alpilles limestone surrounds are sculpted in a way that reveals the care taken by the client. Local limestone, a warm yellow tending towards ochre, is used almost exclusively in the building, both for the walls and the decorative elements, giving the whole a remarkable unity of colour. The massing of the building, built on two or three levels as is common practice in the hilltop villages of Provence, adapts to the topographical constraints of the rocky spur on which the village is built. The entrance, framed by a basket-handle arch or moulded semi-circular arch, gives access to a vestibule distributing the interior spaces organised around a narrow vertical circulation. The adjoining rooms, lit by stone cross-headed windows, reflect a layout typical of 16th-century Provencal bourgeois homes. One of the most notable technical features is the use of Alpilles limestone rubble - a dense, frost-resistant rock that is very different from the soft Lutetian limestone of the Île-de-France region - which goes some way to explaining how well the façade has been preserved despite centuries of exposure to the elements and the violent Mistral winds. The roofs, which were traditionally low-sloped in the south of France, were covered with canal tiles, the dominant roofing style throughout rural and urban Provence at the time.
Related Figures
Famille de Lère — notables provençaux dont la demeure porte le nom, probablement propriétaires aux XVIe-XVIIe sièclesProsper Mérimée — inspecteur des Monuments Historiques, promoteur de la sauvegarde du patrimoine provençal au XIXe siècleRichelieu (Armand Jean du Plessis) — cardinal-ministre qui ordonna en 1632 le démantèlement des fortifications des Baux, remodelant durablement le villageHenri II de Bourbon-Condé — dernier prince des Baux, qui remit la seigneurie à Louis XIIIMaison des Baux — dynastie seigneuriale qui façonna l'architecture et le prestige du bourg médiéval
