Saint-Emilion

Cordeliers Cloister

Belonging to the Franciscan order, the Cordeliers community resided in a convent outside the town, before settling within the town walls at the end of the 14th century.

Very well preserved, the building was registered as a Historical Monument in 2005. Unique in its kind, it gives access to the underground passages of Saint-Emilion and leads to cellars excavated up to 17 metres deep.

Collegiate and cloister

Arriving in Saint-Emilion, the most impressive church towering in the upper town is the Collegiate Church. The religious community established within these walls between the 12th and 18th centuries was a college of canons according to the rule of Saint Augustine and embodied the official religious institution.

The collegiate church is not only a place of worship but a real living space for the community. Visit the cloister garden to observe the monastery in all its facets. From this small square, the canons had access to the other monastery buildings. The three walled round arches visible on the east wall correspond to the entrance to the chapter house, which has now disappeared.

The cloister is a geographical and spiritual centre for the monastery, a closed place of prayer, where the only real exit is to paradise, while the central garden is a symbol of the Garden of Eden.

Monolithic church and bell tower

The monolithic church is an underground religious building, excavated in the early 12th century to impressive proportions: 38 metres long and 12 metres high. In the centre of the city, the monolithic church is a reminder of the city’s religious activity in the Middle Ages and intrigues with its unusual appearance. With its 68-metre high bell tower, it reveals a certain elegance thanks to its Gothic portal.

Don’t miss a visit to the underground passages of the largest monolithic church in Europe: it will offer you an almost 45-minute immersion into the heart of the underground for an exclusive discovery. This historical heritage will surprise you and you will pass through four monuments: the Emilion Hermitage, the Trinity Chapel and its medieval paintings, and the catacombs of the underground church.

King's Tower

The King’s Tower is the only Romanesque donjon still intact in this area. Located within the city ramparts, the building rests on a rocky massif isolated on all sides and excavated with natural caves and quarries exploited since the Middle Ages.

This quadrangular tower, 14.50 metres high, is divided into three levels. The outer walls and corners of the building are covered with flat buttresses that reinforce the building.

Starting from the lowest terrace, the tower culminates at a height of 32 metres and offers a breathtaking panoramic view of the city and its surroundings.

Maison de la Cadène

This graceful building is the only half-timbered house in the village and has a façade dating back to the 16th century and foundations well before that time.

We note the presence of turrets and mullioned windows on its façade, showing the architectural evolution of the building up to the 16th century. This house formed a unique ensemble with the Maison de la Commanderie on the other side of Rue Guadet: it still retains a remarkable polygonal tower containing a beautiful 16th-century spiral staircase.

The covered market

Around the corner from the picturesque monolithic church square, the covered market now shelters visitors from rain or sun, but hides a much older history.

In the Middle Ages, its semi-circular arches and Gothic mouldings housed the grain trade and were used to protect goods from pests and the weather: wooden slats were inserted into the still visible holes of the large openings. There were also moggi, measures of wheat carved in stone, a copy of which is currently preserved in the Trinity Chapel or in the cloister of the Collegiate Church.

Les Halles contributed to the city’s history, especially during the period of the English kings in Aquitaine.

Porte Brunet

The ramparts of Saint-Emilion were supposedly built in the 12th century to protect the prosperous village of Saint-Emilion from attacks by invaders.

This fortification wall was also a political tool, to show the power of the village. However, it also had commercial functions; in fact, it was necessary to pay a tax to enter the intramural village, which represented a new source of wealth.

Palais Cardinal

The cardinal to whom the monument’s name alludes was Gaillard de la Mothe, nephew of the archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand de Goth, who became the famous Pope Clement V in the early 14th century. The latter granted his nephew the title of cardinal of Sainte Luce, 1st dean of the Augustinian canons, as well as a luxurious and comfortable residence known today as the ‘Cardinal’s Palace’.

The ruins of the façade, still present today, suggest that this magnificent palace was built in the 12th century. In fact, Romanesque artistic elements are present: a semicircular arch, geometric and vegetal decorations, the twin bays and their ordered decorations similar to other monuments in the medieval city dating back to the beginning of the 12th century.

Today, only the ruins of a façade remain: they testify to the opulence displayed by the town of Saint-Emilion in the past.

Les Grandes Murailles

Vestiges of an ancient convent, The Great Walls housed the Dominican order, a confraternity of mendicant monks. After the abandonment of the convent and its deliberate destruction during armed conflicts, only a huge stretch of wall remains.

Its size suggests that the rest of the convent was also very large and that the Dominicans of Saint-Emilion were not so poor, contrary to the requirements of their order.

Couvent des Ursulines

From its origins, the town of Saint-Emilion has had a significant religious presence, welcoming Benedictines, Augustinians, Franciscans and then Dominicans.

The nuns of the order of Sainte-Ursule settled in Saint-Emilion on 1 June 1630. Founded by Madame Lacroix, this convent and its 18 nuns had the main purpose of offering free education to poor girls in the city and its jurisdiction.

The nuns managed to have up to 80 students enrolled, a figure that dropped to 8 following the great plague epidemic that occurred 3 years after their establishment.

Legend has it that the sisters are said to have originated a Saint-Emilion speciality: macaroons. Now in ruins, the convent is surrounded by vineyards and remains a very pleasant visit in the summer season.

Le Tertre

The village of Saint-Emilion has had to adapt to its rugged terrain, shaping its conformation with mounds, or sloping alleys, that allow you to visit the steep and uneven town.

Four tumuli connect the upper and lower town. From the small cobblestones of the Tertre de la Cadène to the stones of the Tertre de la Tente and the Tertre de la Porte Saint Martin, the more daring will take the Tertre des Vaillants.

Château Soutard

Château Soutard imposes its aristocratic presence in the heart of the limestone plateau of Saint-Emilion.

The entrance is a majestic avenue of lime trees, with an 18th-century façade. This building is typical of Bordeaux farmhouses. It was in the 19th century that Jean Lavau first completed the estate.

Today you can visit it to enjoy a moment of French art de vivre. Watch a beautiful sunset while sipping a glass of wine and strolling through the 30 hectares of vineyards.