Bourges is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Cher. With 64,551 inhabitants in 2017, it is the most populous municipality in the department. At the center of an urban area of 139,052 inhabitants (the 62nd in France), Bourges is the third most populous municipality in the Center-Val de Loire region, after Tours and Orléans, and ahead of Blois, Châteauroux and Chartres. It is also the historic capital of Berry, a province of the Ancien Régime corresponding approximately to the current departments of Indre and Cher.
Saint-Etienne Cathedral of Bourges
The Saint-Étienne de
Bourges cathedral is a Catholic cathedral built between the end of
the 12th and the end of the 13th century. Dedicated to Saint
Stephen, the first martyr, it is the seat of the Archdiocese of
Bourges (departments of Cher and Indre).
Architecturally, the
building is remarkable both for its harmonious proportions, linked
to the unity of its design, and for the quality of its tympanums,
sculptures and stained glass windows. It differs in particular from
the other great cathedrals of the time by a completely new search
for a unified interior space.
The Saint-Étienne cathedral in
Bourges was consecrated on May 13, 1324. Like all cathedrals built
before the separation of churches and state, it now belongs to the
French state. It is the subject of a classification as a historical
monument by the list of 1862 and it was inscribed in 1992 on the
UNESCO World Heritage List. It is located in the historic center of
Bourges, a protected area since 1965.
Jacques-Coeur
Palace
The Jacques-Coeur Palace is a private mansion located in
Bourges, considered by the elegance of its architecture, the
richness and the variety of its decoration, as one of the most
sumptuous civil buildings of the fifteenth century and a masterpiece
of civil architecture in flamboyant Gothic style. This 15th-century
building prefigures the mansions that will flourish during the
Renaissance and is, along with the Château de Montsoreau (1453) and
the Château de Châteaudun (1452), one of the very first examples of
recreational architecture in France.
It was born out of the
desire of the rich merchant Jacques Coeur to build a "big" house "in
his native town, but Charles VII's money-maker never lived there.
This palace is the subject of a classification as historical
monuments by the list of 1840. Property of the State since 1923, it
is managed, animated and open to visitors by the center of national
monuments.
The Archiepiscopal Palace is one of the main buildings in the center of the city of Bourges, opposite the cathedral and which served as the Town Hall from 1910 to 1995. It currently contains the museum of the “Meilleur Ouvriers de France” and brings together a number of masterpieces produced at the end of their tour of France.
The Bourges marshes, or marshes of Yèvre and
Voiselle, constitute in the major bed of the Yèvre river and to the
east of Bourges city center, an enclave of 135 ha of former marshes
developed by humans from the 7th century, and today dedicated to
forms of urban agriculture (private vegetable or ornamental gardens)
and setting for certain leisure activities (fishing, jogging,
walking, tourism, etc.)
They are divided into nearly 1,500
plots, distributed among almost as many owners: their areas vary
from 13 m2 to 1.5 ha. The marshes have been protected by a
classification since 2003 under the regime of “natural monuments and
sites” governed by the environment code1. Two associations, bringing
together some of the users of the marshes, contribute to their
safeguard and protection, their enhancement, their maintenance and
their animation: the Association des maraîchers de Bourges (AMB),
and the Association Patrimoine des Marais (also called Association
of users of the Yèvre and Voiselle marshes in Bourges, AUMYVB).