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Origin and history

The Hôtel des Échevins de Bourges was built at the end of the 15th century (from 1489) to replace the outbuildings of the priory of the Comtale, destroyed by a fire having destroyed the municipal archives. The plans were entrusted to the mason Jacquet de Pigny, and the sculptures made by Jacquet de Persigny and Jacquet Gendre. The building, backed by the Gallo-Roman ramparts, included a closed courtyard with wells, a door and a counter, only one of which remains a corner turret today.

In the 17th century, between 1619 and 1623, architects Jehan Le Jérôme and Gargault added an arcade gallery linking the turret to the medieval residence, in a Renaissance style. The hotel served as a city hall until 1682 when the municipality moved to the Jacques-Cœur Palace. Sold in 1683 to Henri Labbe de Changrand, it became an annex to the Petit Collège des Jésuites until 1762, before housing a normal school and then a high school in the 19th century.

Ranked a historic monument in 1886, the Hôtel des Échevins was restored in 1983 to house the Musée Estève in 1987, dedicated to the abstract painter Maurice Estève (1904–2001). The museum exhibits its works on three levels, including canvases, drawings and tapestries. The architecture of the building, marked by its stairway tower and Renaissance gallery, bears witness to the urban evolution of Bourges between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

The prison turret, built in 1559 at the corner of Rue Édouard-Branly and Rue de la Narette (disappeared), illustrates the judicial use of the place. The medieval fence wall, door and window were replaced in the 18th century by an iron gate. The building, owned by the municipality, preserves elements of the Gallo-Roman ramparts, stressing its anchoring in the urban history of Bourges.

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