Saint Pierre Church in Bordeaux

Walking along the River Garonne in Bordeaux is a feast for the eyes. There are numerous historic buildings which line the promenade. Back then, Bordeaux was a major port city since it serves as an entry point to the rest of France, at least by river. One could be forgiven to think that the center of Bordeaux would be the river area, but apparently this isn’t the case. The actual center of the city is the area behind the Place de la Bourse in a disctict called Saint Pierre. Bordeaux was still a major port of call and thus there were a lot of merchants and shops setup here. For those that understand French, the street names in the Saint Pierre district remind people of the businesses that used to be here.

Detail of the Entrance of Saint Pierre Church in Bordeaux

Of course, what city center would be without its own church. The church appropriately called Saint Pierre Church is a small church in the old city center. This is a gothic church which didn’t seem to have very high aspirations. I would normally think that gothic churches tend to be very tall. This is probably one of the few gothic church I have visited which isn’t tall. Parts of the church date back to the 12th century. Probably not that surprising anymore considering that Saint Pierre one of the oldest districts of Bordeaux.

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