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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The house of l'Infante, also known as Joanoenia House, is a historic house built around 1640 by the Basque shipowner Joannot de Haraneder. Located on the port of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, it is distinguished by its towers, its facades in pink brick and stone, and its two galleries in Italian with five arcades. This architectural style reflects the influence of the maritime and cultural exchanges of the time in this harbour region of the Basque Country.

In June 1660, the house hosted a major event in European history: the infant Marie-Thérèse of Spain, aged 22, stayed there with the Queen Mother Anne of Austria before her marriage with Louis XIV, celebrated on June 9 in the Church of St John the Baptist. The future spouses, both Habsburgs by their mother, pray there the day before at the convent of the Recollets of Ciboure. The ceremony is fascinating, infantish wearing a silver brocart dress and a purple velvet coat sown with fleurs de lys d'or, symbol of the Franco-Spanish alliance.

The house preserves remarkable elements such as the antechamber of the large living room, known as the "chambre de l'Infante", adorned with a fireplace carved with crowned dolphins and 17th century angelot heads. A decoration of beams inspired by the school of Fontainebleau represents mythical monsters and exotic flowers. Adjacent L-Oratorium offers a view of the harbour and the Rhune, while an inscription recalls the event of 1660: "Infant I received in the year one thousand six hundred sixty, I am called from the castle of the infant".

In the 18th century, the house again welcomed members of the royal family: in 1701, the grandsons of Louis XIV, the Dukes of Burgundy and Berry, took their journey to Madrid to accompany their brother, King Philippe V. Later, in 1854, Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie stayed there, while the property belonged to the Parisian lawyer Émile Pécarrère. These royal and imperial visits underline its historic and diplomatic importance.

Ranked among historical monuments, the house saw its facades inscribed in 1925, then the entire building in 1992. This classification protects a unique architectural heritage, witness to the close links between France, Spain and the Basque Country, as well as the fascists of the monarchy under the Ancien Régime and the Second Empire.

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