Maison de Bazas
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison de Bazas, located in Bazas (Gironde), 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
- Bazas, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.4322, -0.2113
- Mérimée Reference
- PA33000013
At the heart of Bazas, this residence from the 15th and 16th centuries conceals behind its austere façade ribbed vaulted rooms and a fireplace adorned with a rare painted decoration from the 18th century, an intact testament to Gascon civil architecture.
History
In the medieval fabric of Bazas, an episcopal town in the Gironde region that is remembered by pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela, this 15th and 16th century house stands like a preserved fragment of a bygone urban life. Its elevation on the street, the only surviving part of a once much larger residence, is enough to reveal the wealth of its patrons and the mastery of Gascon craftsmen in the late Middle Ages. The building's main interest lies in its interior spaces: the rib-vaulted rooms, with their ribs falling onto finely sculpted bases, evoke the late Gothic craftsmanship found in the best middle-class homes in the south-west. These volumes, which are surprisingly generous for a town house, give the ensemble a dignity akin to religious or seigneurial architecture, a sign that the original owner belonged to the Bazadois elite - wealthy merchants, royal officers or canons in favour. The fireplace with its 18th-century painted decoration adds another layer to this architectural palimpsest. Applied to a Gothic structure with the lightness of ornamentation typical of the Age of Enlightenment - arabesques, cartouches, faux-marbles perhaps - this decoration perfectly illustrates the continuity of occupation of the great Gascon houses, tastefully altered according to fashion without ever being completely rebuilt. Visiting this house means accepting to decipher an incomplete but sincere monument. The amputation of its second body and connecting wing, demolished after the First World War, has certainly reduced its footprint on the strip of land, but it has also frozen what remains in an almost photographic sobriety. The attentive visitor will be able to read, in the blond limestone rubble of the Entre-deux-Mers region, the traces of an urban prosperity that was the glory of Bazas until the Revolution.
Architecture
The house is in the tradition of late Gothic and Renaissance civil architecture in south-west Aquitaine, characterised by the use of local limestone in warm colours and an austere facade contrasting with the richness of the interior spaces. The main building on the street, the only remaining part of the original three-part structure, has a sober elevation punctuated by openings whose moulded frames betray the stylistic evolution between the two centuries of construction. The interior is the real treasure of the building. The rib-vaulted rooms, with their pointed or pointed-arched ribs resting on abutments or engaged columns, bear witness to the mastery of the Gascon stonemasons trained on the major regional Gothic projects. These vaults, unusual for a private residence of this scale, give the rooms a remarkable height and solemnity. The fireplaces, one of which still has an 18th-century painted decoration - probably featuring floral motifs, cartouches or a faux marble appliance in keeping with the decorative style of Bordeaux at the time - illustrate the long continuity of occupation of the house and the superimposition of successive tastes on an unchanged medieval structure. The strip-shaped plot configuration, which is clearly visible in the overall plan despite the demolitions, is typical of medieval urban development in the Bazadais region, where pressure on land meant that the frontage had to be narrow but development was possible in depth. The connecting wing and the second section, which have now disappeared, were intended to link the courtyard, the small garden and the outbuildings, as was common in the middle-class mansions of medieval Bordeaux.
Related Figures
Commanditaire anonyme du XVe siècle, probablement notable bazadais (bourgeois ou officier royal)Artisans tailleurs de pierre gascons formés aux chantiers gothiques du BordelaisPropriétaire du XVIIIe siècle ayant commandé le décor peint de la cheminéePropriétaires des années 1920 ayant ordonné la démolition partielle après la Première Guerre mondialeInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier d'inscription en 1997
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison de Bazas located?
Maison de Bazas is located in Bazas, Gironde department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
When was Maison de Bazas built?
Maison de Bazas dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison de Bazas open to visitors?
Maison de Bazas is currently closed to visitors.