Must see sights Saint Emilion - France

1,   Cardinal's Palace    Place du 11 Nov 1918

The palace walls are still viable today are part of the old town walls. In the early 14th century, Pope Clement V, a local boy, gave her nephew the title of "Cardinal of Santa Luce' and this was his luxurious & comfortable home.  Look out for the Roman-style art, with floral decorated arches and latrine pipes that demonstrate a certain level of comfort.

2.   The Great Wall      Grand Pontet

 There are the modest remains of a huge 12th century Dominican monastery. At the beginning of the Hundred Years War.  French troops took refuge in this monastery. The monks, feeling unsafe, left and settled within the town.   The monastery was then deliberately destroyed, leaving only this impressive vestige left standing in the vineyards

3.  Collegiate Church & Cloisters  2 bis Rue de la Porte Brunet

This impressive Collegiate church dates back to 1110.  It was transformed throughout the 13th & 15th centuries, with the architecture clearly influenced by the gothic style.  The beautiful Cloister is a losed place for prayer, but notice how the south and east walls are decorated with tombs fro the 13th & 14th centuries:
Local Tip:   The wooden roofs on the front of the cloister halls and above were rebuilt to look typical
of the period

4.   "Tertre" Streets   Several Tartre locations

In St-Emilion, the word "tertres" refers to the four narrow streets which link the High and Low Towns with steep paths that have uneven paving.
Local Fact:   These paving stones came as ballast on merchant ships arriving in Aquitaine from England.
The stones came off the boats and were replaced by wine barrels.

5.  La Caden House    Rue de la Caden

This is the last remaining medieval wooden house in the village and an excellent example of a typical
16th century home .  The returning crusaders brought back the renaissance, which meant taller houses
with hand carved wooden facades, decorated with statues and painted in different colours.
Local Fact:   Some believe that there was once a chain here that divided the 'High Tower' from the 'Low Town'


6.  Monolitihic Church & Bell Tower   Place du Marche'

At the very heart of town, the monolithic church is an underground religious building of hugh proportions.  It was carved out from the 12 th century painted in the 14th century, devastated in the 16th, battered in the  18th during the French Revolution and restored in the 20th.  The bell tower is the
highest point in Saint-Emilion. Both solid and slender, it encompasses. Romanesque  & Gothic.
Local tip:   Climb its 196 steps foa an amazing view of the city and surrounding region.

7.  The Market Hall -  5 Place de l'Eglise Monolithe

This open-sided Market Hall originally housed grain, and the upper building was the location of the Town Hall from the 18th century to 1902
Local Fact:    Notice the small wooden door in the back corner, this was the town jail cell.

8.   The Wash Houses   Rue de la Grande Fontaine
                                      Rue de la Petite Fontaine

The two main water sources in the centre were transformed into washhouses in the 19th century. The wash houses are where the washer-women from the area washed or rather rinsed their linen, it was the
backdrop for gossip, laughter and song and a popular place to meet.

9.   The Cordeliers Cloister

This location is the town's 2nd Franciscan monastery, after pillaging during the Hundred Years War
forced the monks to move inside the protective walls of the city in 1383, King Richard 11  of England made a permanent gift of land to the Franciscans, and for four centuries, until the onset of the Revolution in 1789, the Cordeliers occupied  this site with their church, an entrance courtyard, a winery
a vat room, a cellar, a garen and a dormitory building with six bedrooms.

10.  Brunet Gate   20 Rue de la Porte Brunet

This gate is part of the original ramparts commissioned in the 12th century in the 12th century it opens on to the  countryside, hence the name, which comes from the Gascon word for "moorland" ;  "Branet"
The sides were enlarged in the 17th century to enable carts to cross irt and the wooden doors on hinges are still there today, although they're just hanging on.

11.  The King's Tower  7 Rue du Couvent

The only Romanesque keep still intact in the Gironde region.  Was it built by a King of France or of England.  The mystery remains unsolved to this day. Some experts say that it was constructed for the Jurade, a wine-making brotherhood that protects and promotes the famous St-Emilion wine. Other say it was built for a king - but which one?

12.  The Ursulines Convent 

The sisters of the order of Saint-Ursule settled here in 1630.  The convent and its 18 nuns provided
free education to girls from poor backgrounds.  When the Revolution broke out, church properties were nationalised , but the memory of these nuns is still alive in the village, both in the remains of their
former convent and in the sweet, almond flavoured macaroons they invented.