Maison, dite maison gothique
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison, dite maison gothique, located in Saint-Emilion (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
- Saint-Emilion, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.8939, -0.1550
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00083733
Jewel of Gothic architecture nestled in the heart of Saint-Émilion, this 15th-century residence displays its pointed arches and paired trefoil windows, an exceptional testament to medieval civic architecture in the Gironde.
History
As you stroll through the cobbled streets of Saint-Émilion, a medieval town listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a Gothic house emerges with unexpected elegance. Far from the great fortresses that dot the region, it embodies a more intimate yet equally precious facet of medieval architecture: that of the bourgeois home, where domestic comfort is adorned in the finery of the flamboyant Gothic style. What really sets this building apart from the urban fabric of Saint-Émilion is the quality and diversity of its preserved architectural features. The large pointed arches on the north side of the ground floor and the geminated windows topped with trilobes on the upper floors are just some of the details that make this house a veritable textbook in civil Gothic stonework. A rare vestige of prestigious domestic architecture in a town with so many monuments, it reveals the level of refinement achieved by the wealthy classes of the wine-growing town in the late Middle Ages. A visit to the Gothic house is a natural part of a walk through the historic heart of Saint-Émilion, where the golden limestone streets lead from monument to monument. Just looking at the exterior of the house is enough to arouse the curiosity of the discerning visitor: the façade alone, with its two clearly visible phases of construction, is a fascinating exercise in the archaeology of buildings. The vaulted medieval cellars beneath the building add an underground dimension to the exploration. In a city renowned for its catacombs, caves and monolithic church carved out of the rock, the Gothic house is part of this tradition of deep inhabited space, characteristic of a city that was as much excavated as it was built. Photographers and lovers of medieval architecture will find this house an ideal subject, especially in the morning light when the Gironde limestone takes on warm golden hues that enhance the play of shadows in the Gothic mouldings.
Architecture
The Gothic house in Saint-Émilion has a composite facade that is clearly visible to the naked eye, made up of two construction phases that are clearly distinct in terms of their stonework. The oldest part, dating from the 15th century, is dominated by a tower whose north elevation reveals four large pointed arches on the ground floor, undoubtedly supported by sculpted voussoirs, a characteristic motif of the great civil Gothic residences of the south-west. Above, the first and second floors are punctuated by double lancet windows with trilobed infill, joined by a pointed arch, the trilobes at the top of which are the quintessential flamboyant Gothic ornament. The right-hand side of the façade, built in a different, more regular and homogenous style, was added in the 16th century and marks the transition to a pre-Renaissance style, with more restrained ornamentation. The materials used are typical of medieval Gironde construction: local limestone, extracted from the quarries that dug the very subsoil of Saint-Émilion, is used in blocks of varying sizes, forming a luminous golden facing that ages with a beautiful patina. Modifications made in the 18th and 19th centuries - access staircase, entrance door, interior redistribution - have introduced classical and picturesque elements without erasing the essential medieval character. Underneath the entire building are vaulted cellars of medieval architecture, dug into the limestone rock or built with barrel vaults, providing a valuable underground space for preserving food and wine. These hypogean spaces, recurrent in the architecture of Saint-Emilion, bear witness to the central role played by wine in the local domestic economy since the Middle Ages.
Related Figures
Commanditaire anonyme du XVe siècle — bourgeois aisé ou marchand de Saint-Émilion ayant financé la construction initiale de la tour gothiqueMaître maçon gothique bordelais (XVe siècle) — artisan responsable des baies géminées trilobées et des arcades brisées, probablement actif sur plusieurs chantiers de la régionPropriétaire du XVIe siècle — commanditaire de l'agrandissement de la façade droite en appareil RenaissancePropriétaire des XVIIIe-XIXe siècles — responsable de la modernisation de l'escalier et de la porte d'entrée, adaptant la demeure aux usages de son époque
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison, dite maison gothique located?
Maison, dite maison gothique is located in Saint-Emilion, Gironde department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
When was Maison, dite maison gothique built?
Maison, dite maison gothique dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison, dite maison gothique open to visitors?
Maison, dite maison gothique is currently closed to visitors.