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Origin and history

The Hôtel d'Estienne-de-Saint-Jean is a mansion built around 1671 in Aix-en-Provence, in the ancient Bourg Saint-Sauveur district. It resulted from the merger of two medieval houses belonging to widows, Éléonore Murot and Claire Passart, whose one threatened to ruin after rains in 1660. The widow Passart bought part of the adjoining house, while the rest was given to Auguste Reynaud. At the death of Eléonore Murot in 1662, a succession dispute broke out, of which Charles d'Estienne de Saint-Jean came out heir. The hotel was finally made for Joseph de Martigny, heir to the d'Estienne, by architect Pierre Puget, to whom other hotels in Aix are also attributed.

The hotel owes its name to François d'Estienne, Protestant lord who supported Henry III and then Henry IV, forcing him to flee Aix. In 1664 Joseph de Martigny, descendant of Estienne, entrusted his construction to Pierre Puget. The building, on a complex plane, mixes the structures of the two original houses, visible in the interlocking of the floors on the rue des Brémondi. The sober facade, decorated with canned pilasters and Corinthian capitals, hides a remarkable interior: a Louis XIV wrought iron staircase, a painted dome attributed to Jean Daret (circa 1675), and decors of the period.

Becoming a property of the city in 1922 thanks to a legacy of Marie d'Estienne de Saint-Jean, the hotel already housed administrative premises in the 19th century, temporarily altering its vestibule. Restored in its original state, it was classified as a historical monument in 1937 and since 1933 it has been home to the Musée du Vieil-Aix, preserving its furniture and decors from the past. Its history reflects the urban transformations and heritage stakes of Aix-en-Provence, between medieval heritage and Baroque fascists.

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