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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The town hall of Compiègne, built from 1490 on the site of two houses bequeathed to the city in 1397, embodies the transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance. He was entrusted to Pierre Navyer (known as Pierre de Meaux), a mason who had collaborated at Senlis Cathedral, and symbolized the economic revival of Compiègne after the ravages of the Hundred Years War. Its monumental facade, adorned with statues and snout windows, reflects the urban power found, while the belfry, surmounted by a lion-girouette, houses the Banclocque, a medieval bell dated 1303.

Ranked a historic monument in 1840 thanks to the intervention of Prosper Mérimée, the building underwent major restorations in the 19th century under the direction of Aymar Verdier and Auguste Lafollye, students of Viollet-le-Duc. The latter, protected by Napoleon III, oversees the reconstruction of the statuary destroyed during the Revolution, including the equestrian bas-relief of Louis XII by Henri-Alfred Jacquemart (1869). The belfry jaquemarts, nicknamed Langlois, Flandrin and Lansquenet, always animated the city by striking the hours, perpetuating a tradition dating back to 1530.

The interior decoration, however, is largely redesigned, preserves nine murals made in 1907 by Raymond Fournier-Sarlovèze and José Vasquez in the former Peace Justice Hall. These works, commissioned by Mayor Mortimer-Robert Fournier-Sarlovèze, illustrate significant episodes of local history, although they are the result of major events such as the martyrdom of Carmelites in 1794 or the fall of Napoleon III. The left wing, added in 1867, takes on the Renaissance style of the original building, while the interior courtyard houses a neoclassical prison facade, a witness to the 18th century transformations.

Saving from the bombings of 1940, City Hall was destroyed between 1978 and 1980. Today, it hosts the municipal administration and the tourism office, while opening up to the public during Heritage Days. Its belfry, culminating at 47 meters, and its square rebuilt after 1945 by Jean Philippot make it a symbol of Compiegno's heritage, mixing medieval memory and modern restorations.

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