Place Ducale (Charleville-Mezieres)

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Place Ducale in Charleville

The Place Ducale is the central square in the years after 1606 and newly established with star-shaped bastions fortified town of Charleville on the banks of the Meuse . Built between 1612 and 1628 in the center of the new town by the architect Clément Métezeau, the square is closely linked to its counterpart, the Place des Vosges in Paris, both through the respective client and the architects .

Client

Charles de Gonzague , Duke of Nevers and Rethel and Governor of Champagne, was at the same time the nephew of Henry IV and one of the richest and most important men in Europe. He was enfeoffed with Mantua and Montferrat by Emperor Ferdinand II in connection with the Peace of Cherasco in 1631 . In 1606 he commissioned the architect Clément Métezeau to plan and build the city and the square.

architecture

The Place Ducale forms a rectangle about 127 × 90 meters; the middle of each side is open to streets. The square is surrounded by 27 - largely uniform - buildings ( pavilions ), all of which are built using a mixture of bricks and house stones ( briques et pierres ). The front part of the ground floor is formed by arcades, behind which all kinds of shops were; today it is mostly cafes and restaurants. Each of the three-storey houses has a steep roof structure, the lower part of which was exposed to light from porthole windows and used for residential purposes, but in the upper part of which the servants were housed in small, lightless chambers that could only be lit by candles. Some of the houses have a larger dormer in the middle and two small ones on the sides instead of four small portholes - a design that serves to loosen up the entire complex.

Place Ducale

The ducal palace was to be built on the west side, but only part of it was completed. In its place, the town hall and its tower were added in 1843 - built in the neo-baroque style and without the use of bricks as a design element.

The large square has been paved again for several years. In its center there was originally a well, which was replaced by a statue of Charles de Gonzague in 1899 - after all houses were connected to the public water supply. The latter, however, was removed again as part of the new paving (1999) and replaced by a copy of the original well.

  • Historic photo (around 1905)

  • Southwest side

  • South-west corner with town hall

  • Fountain

  • World Festival of Marionette Theater

Others

The Place Ducale in Charleville is very similar to its architectural counterpart, the Place des Vosges in Paris. However, the main differences are in the size and shape of the two squares (127 × 90 meters to 140 × 140 meters); the former Place Royale in Paris is therefore larger and more uniform in its square design. At the same time, it was more closed to the outside and, thanks to its greenery, more exclusive than the paved area of ​​Place Ducale. The architects Louis Métezeau (1560–1615) and Clément Métezeau (1581–1652), who were jointly responsible, were brothers; the older one built the Place Royale.

Web links

Commons : Place Ducale  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 46 ′ 25 "  N , 4 ° 43 ′ 14"  E