Palais des ducs d'Aquitaine, la grande salle d'Aliénor

Poitiers

Louis the Pious, king of Aquitaine, had a palace here in the 9th century; it burnt in 1018, and the counts of Poitou, dukes of Aquitaine, rebuilt it at the height of their power. William IX, the first troubadour, added around 1104–1106 a keep where he installed, says Orderic Vitalis, his mistress Dangereuse de Châtellerault, the "Maubergeonne", Eleanor's grandmother: the tower has kept the name. It was in this palace that Eleanor held her court from 1168, when Henry II left her the government of Aquitaine, and it was she who had raised, between 1160 and 1190 according to archaeological research, the great hall of fifty metres by seventeen, one of the largest in Europe together with Westminster Hall, with its blind arcading and its grimacing heads in the Plantagenet style, by the same sculptors as the cathedral. On 23 September 1174, at the end of the revolt, Richard came there to submit to his father. After the fire set in 1346 by the earl of Derby, Duke John of Berry, count of Poitiers, had Guy de Dammartin remake, from 1386 until 1416, the south gable with its three fireplaces and its Flamboyant tracery, adorned with the statues of Charles VI, Isabeau of Bavaria, the duke and his wife, and rebuild the Tour Maubergeon, which remained unfinished. Long dilapidated, occupied by merchants' stalls, the hall became in the 19th century the salle des pas perdus of the law courts, which left it in 2019.

Wikipédia — Palais des ducs d'Aquitaine ↗

Getting there : Place Alphonse-Lepetit, in the centre of Poitiers, five minutes' walk from the town hall. Since the departure of the courts, in 2019, the salle des pas perdus is open every day of the year, freely accessible, like a covered square; you enter by the great staircase or, at the back, by the rue de l'Échelle-du-Palais. The Tour Maubergeon and the other parts can be visited only during occasional openings, exhibitions or Heritage Days; excavations have been under way since 2020. A quarter of an hour is enough for the hall, whose walls deserve as much attention as the fireplaces.

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

Ambient sound