Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The former town hall of La Reole, also known as Old Grain Hall, is a municipal building built in the late 12th or early 13th century, contemporary of the city's first enclosure. According to tradition, its construction was ordered by Richard Coeur-de-Lion (1157–1199), although there were no written sources to confirm this direct link. The building, of a barlong plan (29 m long by 11 m wide), originally had only one ground floor and one floor, with a colonnade of five columns dividing the ground floor into two naves. His initial role was both commercial, as a grain hall, and political, hosting the meetings of the communal jurats formed after the granting of privileges by Jean sans Terre in 1206.

In the 14th century, the building was enhanced and the second level divided into two floors. Over the centuries, it has undergone architectural changes, such as adding Renaissance-style openings or a flamboyant balcony. During the Revolution, the ground floor was transformed into a prison by adding an intermediate floor, before becoming a hall again after the construction of a new prison in 1845–46. Two large arcades were then pierced south of the east wall, followed by two other north sides.

Ranked a historic monument entirely by decree of 3 May 1913, the building illustrates the evolution of municipal and commercial uses in a medieval city under English influence. Its location, in the heart of the old town between Place Richard-Coeur-de-Lion and Place des Martyrs de la Résistance, highlights its historical and urban importance. Archaeological studies, like those of Thierry Soulard (1990), highlight his architecture as a rare "antique reminiscence" for the early 13th century in Aquitaine.

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