Beyond the Cathedral
France > Loire > Cities > Bourges > Beyond the Cathedral
Bourges's museums may be modest, but they are housed in some beautiful medieval buildings, the finest of which are all within a stone's throw of the north end of rue Moyenne. Rue Bourbonnoux, parallel to rue Moyenne to the east of the cathedral, is worth a wander for the early Renaissance Hôtel Lallemant, richly decorated in an Italianate style. It houses the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Tues–Sat 10am–noon & 2–6pm, Sun 2–6pm; free), a diverting enough museum of paintings, tapestries, furniture and objets d'art, including works by the Berrichon artist Jean Boucher (1575–1633). The coffered ceiling of the oratory is carved with alchemical symbols. Halfway along the street, you can take a narrow passage up to the remains of the Gallo-Roman town ramparts, lined with old houses and trees. On rue Edouard Branly, you'll find the fifteenth-century Hôtel des Échevins, which houses the Musée de Maurice Estève (Mon & Wed–Sat 10am–noon & 2–6pm, Sun 2–6pm; free), dedicated to the highly coloured, mostly abstract paintings and tapestries by the locally born artist, who died in 2001.The continuation of rue Edouard Branly, rue Jacques-Coeur, was the site of the head office, stock exchange, dealing rooms, bank safes and home of Charles VII's finance minister, Jacques Coeur (1400–56), a medieval shipping magnate, moneylender and arms dealer who dominates Bourges as Joan of Arc does Orléans – Charles VII just doesn't get a look-in. The Palais de Jacques-Coeur (daily: July & Aug 9am–7pm; April–June, Sept & Oct 9am–noon & 2–6pm; Nov–March 9am–noon & 2–5pm; guided tours every 45min in season beginning at 9.30am; €5.50) is one of the most remarkable examples of fifteenth-century domestic architecture in France. The visit starts with the fake windows on the entrance front from which two realistically sculpted half-figures look down. There are hardly any furnishings, but much of the decoration of the house's stonework recalls the man who had it built, including a pair of bas-reliefs on the courtyard tower that may represent Jacques and his wife, and numerous hearts and scallop shells inside that playfully allude to his name – ceocur means "heart" in French, and scallop shells are known in France as coquilles St-Jacques, as they are the traditional symbol of St James. On the first floor, a wonderful bas-relief of a galleasse, with its oars and sails spread, symbolizes Jacques' trading empire. The house is unusually modern for its time, with latrines, a steamroom, and a rationally planned design that predates the symmetries of French Renaissance architecture. A reconstruction of the tomb of Jean de Berry dominates one of the rooms on the upper floor. Steps lead down beside the palace to rue des Arènes, where the sixteenth-century Hôtel Cujas houses the Musée du Berry (Mon & Wed–Sat 10am–noon & 2–6pm, Sun 2–6pm; free), which has an interesting collection of local artefacts, most notably ten of the forty pleurants that survived the breaking up of Jean de Berry's tomb; Rodin considered these weeping statues so beautiful that he paid 6000 francs for one, shortly before his death. Etruscan bronzes and Roman funerary monuments bear witness to Bourges's ancient history, while an exhibition on the theme of traditional rural life occupies the first floor. Close by is the pleasant place Notre-Dame, with its church clearly showing the shift from Gothic to Renaissance.
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