Jacques Cœur, 570 years on: seven castles to trace the lost fortune of the treasurer to Charles VII

CHER · Bourges

Jacques Cœur Palace

The Jacques Cœur Palace in Bourges is a Flamboyant Gothic hôtel particulier (town mansion) built between 1443 and 1451 for Jacques Cœur, a wealthy merchant who became Grand Argentier (treasurer) to King Charles VII, with the help of the master builders Pierre Jobert and Guillot Trépant. With 43 rooms, 8 staircases and nearly 4,000 m² of living space, it combines medieval elements (courtyard, towers, keep) with innovations heralding the Renaissance (galleries, wide openings, separation between courtyard and garden), adorned with sculptures, bas-reliefs, gargoyles and mottoes, including Jacques Cœur's famous motto: “À vaillant cœur rien d'impossible” (“To a valiant heart, nothing is impossible”). Arrested even before the work was completed and stripped of his property by the king, Jacques Cœur was never able to fully live in his palace. Sold by Colbert to the town of Bourges in 1682, the building then served as the town hall and later as the law courts in the 19th century, before being listed as a historic monument as early as 1840 and acquired by the State in 1923, which undertook its restoration. Today it is a national monument open to visitors, managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux.