Salle de concerts
Monument
Salle de concerts, located in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais), 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
- Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.7503, 2.2607
- Mérimée Reference
- PA62000165
An architectural gem in Saint-Omer, this concert hall from the first half of the 19th century epitomises the golden age of bourgeois cultural life in the Pas-de-Calais region. It will be listed as a Historic Monument in 2021.
History
In the heart of Saint-Omer, a town of art and history nestled between the Audomarois marshes and the interior Flanders region, the Concert Hall is one of the most intact testimonies to the musical and social life of the bourgeoisie in the north of France in the 19th century. Built in the first half of this century, which saw temples of entertainment and cultivated sociability spring up all over the provinces, it was part of a national movement to provide medium-sized towns with cultural facilities worthy of their ambitions. What makes this hall truly unique is its ability to condense into a single building the dual purpose of provincial concert halls of the time: a place for orchestral concerts and chamber music on the one hand, and a space for balls, receptions and meetings of dignitaries on the other. In Saint-Omer, a garrison town and sub-prefecture with a strong regional influence, such a hall was the mirror of a community concerned with its rank and cultural splendour. A visit here is like travelling back in time, in the depths of acoustics designed for the ear, in volumes that still speak the language of gala evenings. The proportions of the auditorium, designed to provide both comfort for the audience and clarity of sound, bear witness to an architectural know-how that had nothing to envy of the great contemporary Parisian achievements. Saint-Omer's setting amplifies the charm of the place. A town of cobbled streets lined with Flemish town houses and neo-classical buildings, it offers a heritage setting of rare coherence. The concert hall is one of its discreet jewels, recently highlighted by its protection as a Historic Monument, confirming a long-deserved reputation.
Architecture
The Saint-Omer Concert Hall belongs to the tradition of neoclassical provincial concert halls, characteristic of the first half of the 19th century. The facade, sober and ordered according to the canons of civil architecture of the period, plays on the regularity of the bays and the balance of the volumes, without the decorative exuberance found in the large halls of the regional capitals. The use of local materials - bricks and ashlar from the Boulonnais region - gives the building a warm, robust tone that is typical of Artesian and Flemish architecture. The interior reveals a carefully thought-out spatial organisation: a rectangular main hall with elaborate acoustics, galleries that may be supported by thin cast-iron supports - an innovative and popular material at the time - and an interior décor combining moulded plasterwork, friezes with floral motifs and pilasters with Ionic or Corinthian capitals. The ceiling, the central element of the interior composition, was to feature a meticulous decorative treatment, similar to contemporary halls in Lille, Arras and Boulogne-sur-Mer. The roof, probably a gable roof covered with slate in the northern tradition, discreetly crowns a building whose discreet exterior contrasts with the richness of the interior space. This contrast between a sober exterior and a refined interior is one of the stylistic signatures of the bourgeois concert halls of Louis-Philippe's reign, designed to astonish and seduce from the moment you cross the threshold.
Related Figures
Le maire de Saint-Omer sous la Monarchie de Juillet, probable commanditaire ou soutien politique de la constructionLes membres fondateurs de la Société philharmonique de Saint-Omer, chevilles ouvrières du projet culturelL'architecte départemental du Pas-de-Calais actif dans les années 1820-1840, vraisemblablement associé à la conceptionLes officiers du régiment de garnison de Saint-Omer, mécènes réguliers des soirées musicales au XIXe siècleLes chanteurs lyriques et virtuoses de passage qui firent étape à Saint-Omer lors de leurs tournées en province
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Salle de concerts located?
Salle de concerts is located in Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Salle de concerts built?
Salle de concerts dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Salle de concerts open to visitors?
Salle de concerts is currently closed to visitors.