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Origin and history

The Hotel de Lacépède is an Aixese mansion built in the early seventeenth century, around 1610, by Jean de Lacépède (1550-1622), lord of the Aygalades and first president of the Court of Accounts in 1622. Close to François de Malherbe, he was also the author of religious works such as The Theorems on the sacred mystery of our redemption. Its architecture reflects the high social status of its sponsor, with a door decorated with weapons and a Latin motto on Chastel Street.

The daughter of Jean de Lacépede, Angelique (married in 1604 to Henri de Simiane, seigneur of La Coste), had the hotel rebuilt in 1641 to give it its present appearance. Two of his descendants marked family history: Jean de Simiane (1637-1687), Marquis and President of Parliament, and Gaspard de Simiane (1607-1649), knight of Malta who died of the plague while serving on the royal galeries in Marseilles. The hotel, symbol of the Aixian aristocratic heritage, was partially protected in 1929.

The building is distinguished by its two monumental gates, including that of Rue Chastel, decorated with diamond tips and trophies, surmounted by family arms and the motto IN.TE.DOMINE SPERAVI ("I trust in You, Lord"). This door, the only element inscribed in historical monuments since 1929, illustrates the influence of the families Lacépede and Simiane in the Provence of the Great Century. The hotel remains an architectural testimony of the networks of nobiliary alliances and Aixian cultural life under the Old Regime.

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