Maison des Templiers, dite aussi Maison Notre-Dame
Monument
Maison des Templiers, dite aussi Maison Notre-Dame, located in Douai (Nord), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Douai, Nord, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.3785, 3.0876
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00107463
A 12th-century Romanesque vestige in the heart of Douai, the Maison des Templiers is one of the rarest surviving examples of medieval civil architecture in the north of France, with its strikingly sober semi-circular arches.
History
As you stroll through the historic streets of Douai, the Maison des Templiers - also known as the Maison Notre-Dame - emerges like a petrified fragment of the Middle Ages, miraculously escaping the turmoil of the industrial and warring history of the Nord. Built in the 12th century, it is one of the very few examples of Romanesque civil architecture still standing in the Nord department, a region where successive destructions have wiped out most of the medieval buildings. Visitors are immediately struck by the quality of the stonework and the rigour of the architectural composition. The façades reveal an exceptional mastery of the Romanesque vocabulary: geminated windows with colonnettes, slightly raised semi-circular arches, sober but precise mouldings that testify to a demanding patron and skilled stonemasons. This is a far cry from the rusticity that is sometimes mistakenly associated with twelfth-century architecture. The monument owes its popular name to the Order of the Temple, whose presence in the Douai region is attested to as early as the second half of the 12th century. Whether the house actually belonged to the Knights Templar or was simply associated with them by oral tradition, it is nonetheless an exceptional document of medieval urban life in a thriving city that was a commercial crossroads between Flanders and northern France. To visit the Maison des Templiers is to slow down and let time do its work. The building reveals itself through its details: the slight irregularity of the limestone facing, the way the low-angled morning light brings out the discreet sculptures of the capitals, the impression of quiet solidity that emanates from a building designed to last for centuries. In a town marked by its carillon and belfries, this house provides an intimate, almost secret counterpoint to the monumentality of the neighbouring buildings.
Architecture
The Maison des Templiers in Douai is part of the Romanesque civil architecture of the 12th century, a particularly rare style in the north of France, where quality stone is less plentiful than in Burgundy or Normandy. The building is constructed from limestone, probably quarried in the Douai region or in the Scarpe valley, and features a carefully cut bond, reflecting a building tradition that was already well established in local ecclesiastical sites. The two-storey façade is the main architectural feature of the building. It is punctuated by round-arched openings typical of the Romanesque style, some of which take the form of geminated windows separated by a slender column with a capital carved with stylised geometric and plant motifs. These columns, with their monolithic shafts, rest on attic bases and are crowned with cubic capitals decorated with foliage or palmettes, an ornamental vocabulary common to twelfth-century northern Romanesque sculpture. A slight moulded cornice crowns the façade, emphasising the horizontal nature of the composition. The interior layout, typical of urban Romanesque houses, is probably based around a large room on the ground floor - used for commercial or reception purposes - and residential areas upstairs. The thick walls, typical of Romanesque construction, give the building a robustness that partly explains its survival over the centuries. The ensemble evokes parallels with other Romanesque houses in northern France, such as the Maison des Musiciens in Reims and the Maison Romane d'Huy in Belgium, confirming the existence of a common architectural culture in the Franco-Mosan area in the 12th century.
Related Figures
Hugues de Payns — fondateur de l'ordre du Temple (1119), dont l'institution est associée à la tradition du monumentPhilippe IV le Bel — roi de France qui ordonna la dissolution de l'ordre du Temple en 1312, entraînant la dévolution de ses biensLouis XIV — sous le règne duquel Douai fut définitivement rattachée à la France (1667), stabilisant le contexte de conservation du patrimoine localLes comtes de Flandre (XIIe siècle) — souverains sous l'autorité desquels fut édifiée la maison, grands mécènes des ordres militaires et religieux en Flandre
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison des Templiers, dite aussi Maison Notre-Dame located?
Maison des Templiers, dite aussi Maison Notre-Dame is located in Douai, Nord department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Maison des Templiers, dite aussi Maison Notre-Dame built?
Maison des Templiers, dite aussi Maison Notre-Dame dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Maison des Templiers, dite aussi Maison Notre-Dame open to visitors?
Maison des Templiers, dite aussi Maison Notre-Dame is currently closed to visitors.