THE REMARKABLE STREETS
A street adorned with numerous Renaissance facades, testifying to the progressive settlement of the nobility in Bar-le-Duc.
By the 16th century, Bar-le-Duc had tired of the Gothic style, preferring the Renaissance, which the Dukes of Bar brought back from their Italian campaigns. In Bar-le-Duc, styles intermingle: here's a quick tour of the city's most beautiful thoroughfares.
Rue du Bourg is located in the lower town. It takes its name from Burgum Barri, the ancient quarter founded in the5th century, which it crosses from one end to the other. Here, the many Renaissance facades, which bear witness to the gradual settlement of the nobility, flirt with much older mansions. The Maison des Deux Barbeaux at no. 26, adorned with sculpted mermaids emerging from foliage, was immortalized in André Theuriet's novel of the same name. No. 49 features a Louis XIII building, while no. 51 dates back to the 16th century. Stop at 77, with its Louis XV façade.
At the end of the street, Place de la Couronne, you'll come across a timber-framed corner house, the oldest in Bar-le-Duc.
Rue des Ducs de Bar, formerly Grand-Rue and the main thoroughfare of the Ville-Haute, was undoubtedly the most aristocratic: the Barroise elite had magnificent palaces built here as early as the 16th century. It features a string of neo-Renaissance mansions with remarkable historicist architecture: gargoyles, mascarons, sculpted pediments... Be sure to lose yourself in the contemplation of these details. At no. 47, a plaque pays tribute to the writer Georges Bernanos (1888-1948), who wrote his first cult work, Sous le soleil de Satan, here between 1924 and 1926.
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