Porte de la Grosse-Horloge

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

This gate formerly provided communication between the old town and the port. It belonged to the inner fortification which protected the Rochelais against possible incursions from the sea. Its construction dates from the beginning of the 14th century. From the following century onwards it underwent numerous restorations until the 18th century. A powerful quadrangular construction whose edges, towards the port, are rounded off in turrets which were originally crenellated and then capped, in the 15th century, with a conical ridge with imbricated tiles. Whilst the building has retained, in its lower parts, its medieval character despite the opening, at ground floor level, of a pointed arch constructed in 1672 by the architect Moyse, the same is not true of the upper parts dating from 1744-1746. The belfry is pierced with a round arch on each face. Paired pilasters of Ionic order are applied to the façades facing the port and the town, whilst columns surmounted by Ionic capitals decorate the small sides. An entablature with projecting cornice crowns this lower part. Above, an attic receives a dome topped with a lantern pierced with four arcades adorned with coupled pilasters of composite order. Each of the two old turrets which flank the medieval tower on the port side is crowned with trophies representing astronomical and maritime allegories.