Maison de Monpazier
MonumentHidden Treasure
At the heart of Monpazier, a royal bastide of the Périgord, the place des Cornières displays its medieval arcades with a coherence rarely seen in Europe. A masterpiece of thirteenth-century town planning, listed as early as 1904.
History
The Place des Cornières in Monpazier is one of the best-preserved medieval squares in France, if not Europe. Built at the end of the 13th century to an almost mathematically rigorous geometric plan, it is the beating heart of this Périgord Noir bastide, and a perfect illustration of the town's urban planning ambitions. Strolling beneath its covered galleries - the famous "cornières" - visitors immediately sense the permanence of a space designed to last for centuries, housing trade, civic life and daily sociability. What makes this place truly exceptional is the remarkable homogeneity of its facades. While most medieval squares have been radically altered over the centuries, Monpazier has preserved seventeen of the original corner houses, their blond stone arcades following one another in an almost musical rhythm around the large central paved area. Each house is almost identical in size, reflecting the egalitarian layout typical of bastide towns: the same width of facade, the same rights, the same access to light. The experience of visiting is striking whatever the season. In the morning, when the sun's rays shave the arcades and cast their geometric shadows on the cobblestones, the square reveals an austere and powerful beauty. On Thursdays, the traditional market day since the Middle Ages, the square takes on a liveliness reminiscent of centuries gone by, with stalls selling local produce and the voices, colours and scents of the Périgord region. The golden limestone, characteristic of the region, takes on warm hues at sunset, making this an irresistible photographic subject. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, the Place des Cornières is a living document of the medieval history of Aquitaine. Every arcade and stone lintel bears witness to a specific political and economic project: the colonisation and development of a territory disputed between the crowns of France and England. To visit this square is to understand how the Middle Ages planned urban space with a sophistication that continues to command the admiration of contemporary town planners.
Architecture
The Place des Cornières in Monpazier is a perfect illustration of the architectural and town-planning principles of the Anglo-Gascon medieval bastide towns. Rectangular in plan, it measures around 65 metres by 45 metres, providing a vast central space for markets and gatherings. On all four sides, the corner houses form a continuous façade pierced by arcades on the ground floor: these covered galleries, for which the name "corner houses" refers to the corner posts or pillars supporting the upper floors, enabled merchants to display their wares sheltered from the rain and sun while keeping traffic flowing around the square. The seventeen houses that have survived are remarkably uniform in size: each plot has a standardised facade width of around six to eight metres, reflecting the egalitarian subdivision practised when the bastide was founded. The materials used are those of the Périgord region: local limestone cut in medium thickness, in the golden and ochre hues that characterise the architecture of the region. The arcades open onto semi-circular or slightly pointed arches, depending on the house, giving the whole a sober, powerful rhythm. The facades, pierced by mullioned windows in the oldest buildings, bear witness to successive alterations between the 14th and 16th centuries, without ever breaking the overall harmony. The most remarkable technical feature is the alignment of the arcades: the "cornices" create a continuous covered walkway around the square, functional in all weathers. The corners of the square are treated with care, with the corner pillars being particularly massive to ensure the stability of the whole. In the centre of the square are the remains of the old covered market, a reminder of the primary commercial function of this space since its foundation in the 13th century.
Related Figures
Édouard Ier d'Angleterre — duc de Guyenne, commanditaire de la fondation de Monpazier en 1284Jean de Graville — sénéchal de Guyenne, chargé de la fondation effective de la bastide et de sa place en 1284Pierre de Gontaut — seigneur de Biron, cosignataire de l'acte de paréage fondateur de MonpazierGeoffroy de Vivans — capitaine huguenot qui s'empara de Monpazier en 1574 lors des guerres de ReligionCharles V de France — roi qui réintégra la bastide dans le domaine royal après le traité de Brétigny
