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Bastide (planned town)Gironde

Bastide de Libourne

Libourne

Dimensions
The place Abel-Surchamp, formerly the place Royale, measures sixty-nine metres on each side and keeps its arcaded buildings. The town hall, of the 15th-16th century and remodelled at the beginning of the 20th, houses the museum of fine arts. On the quay, the tour du Grand-Port, a fortified gate built between 1330 and 1350 and flanked by two towers, is the last remnant of the eight gates. The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, remade in neo-Gothic style in the 19th century, has kept its 14th-century choir. The stone bridge dates from 1822.
Period
Bastide designed in 1268-1270; fortification decided in 1281, works until 1341 (rampart said to have been completed in 1325 according to the Union des villes bastides); porte du Grand-Port 1330-1350; town hall 15th-16th centuries; new fortifications during the Fronde (1648-1652).
What stands there
Town hall and tour du Grand-Port classified as monuments historiques; church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, chapel of Condat (inscribed in 1925) and synagogue inscribed. The Livre Velu preserves the copies of the charters granted by the kings of England. The former chapel of the Carmel bears the Musée de France designation. The commune is a member of the Fédération des Bastides d'Aquitaine.

At the confluence of the Dordogne and the Isle, on the site of Gallo-Roman Condate, Libourne is the largest bastide in the Gironde. Designed in 1268-1270 by Roger de Leybourne, seneschal of Gascony for the King of England, it was intended as a port: maritime for the export of the wines of the Dordogne valley to England, river-borne for the timber destined for the vineyards. It took the name of its founder, Leyburnia, which became Libourne. Taken and destroyed by the French in 1294, it recovered and surrounded itself with a rampart completed in the 14th century, of which only the tour du Grand-Port, standing on the quay, survives. Remaining more faithful to the English than to the French during the Hundred Years' War, it nevertheless saw Louis XI confirm its privileges. The great arcaded square, the town hall and the Gothic choir of Saint-Jean-Baptiste bear witness to this mercantile prosperity.

Further reading

Getting there : Historic centre, square and quays freely accessible; museum of fine arts in the town hall. Tourist office of Libourne. Market days not specified in the texts.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Bastide de Libourne
Paul Kocialkowski · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

This place in the great stories

In the same department

All places — Gironde (23).