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Origin and history

The dungeon of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, also called the tower of the Town Hall, is the vestige of a medieval castle built in the feudal context of the 11th–12th century. The workstones of the base suggest a first tower erected at that time, around which the village developed. In the 13th century, the dungeon served as a seigneurial dwelling, watchtower and symbol of authority, while Saint Paul was mentioned as a castrum with seigneurial rights held by a local chivalry family. The current trapezoidal tower was reportedly rebuilt in the 13th century, incorporating archaic architectural elements such as cradle vaults.

In 1227, the Count of Provence Raymond-Béranger V granted communal franchises to the inhabitants, marking a step towards local autonomy. Following the recommendations of the States General of Provence (1363–67), a fortified enclosure was built to protect the city, reinforced in 1401 thanks to an exceptional imposition lifted by Louis II of Anjou, king of Sicily and Count of Provence. Saint Paul then became a royal city. The dungeon was equipped with a ironware campanile in 1685, housing a bell melted in 1443 and recast in 1637, engraved with a quotation from St Paul: "Hora is jam de somno surgere" ("It's time to get out of sleep").

The monument illustrates the defensive transformations of the region, notably after the imperial incursions of 1524 and 1536, which prompted Francis I to equip Saint Paul with a bastioned enclosure, among the first of the first of France. Ranked a historic monument in 1922, the dungeon now houses the town hall and dominates the collegiate of the Conversion of Saint Paul and the chapel of the White Penitents. Its architecture, combining Romanesque and Gothic elements (like a geminied window), reflects its evolution between seigneurial symbol, watchtower and communal building.

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