Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The House of the Presidual of Saintes, built around 1605 in the first quarter of the seventeenth century, is an emblematic mansion in the historic centre of the city. This building owes its name to its former owner, the president of the Presidual, a local court whose seat was close to the echevinage. Its architecture, marked by elements of the late Renaissance, reflects the prestige of this judicial institution in modern times.

Transformed into the Museum of Fine Arts in 1967, the Hotel du Présidial hosted municipal collections until it closed to the public in 2009. These collections, from a legacy of Count Louis Lemercier in 1864, included ceramics (XIVth–XIXth centuries) and paintings from French, Flemish, Dutch and Italian schools (XVIIth–XVIIIth centuries). Among the major works were paintings by Brueghel by Velours, Étienne Allegrain or Gillis Congnet, testifying to the artistic richness of the period.

Ranked a historic monument on June 7, 1919, the building today preserves the art reserves of the museums of Saintes. Its spatial organization, with a main house body, commons around an inner courtyard and a passage opening onto Victor-Hugo Street, illustrates the aristocratic residential architecture of the early seventeenth century. The accuracy of its location, however, remains poor (level 5/10 depending on the sources), with an approximate address at 17 rue André Lemoyne.

The museum also housed notable works such as Jan Brueghel's Allegory of the Earth from Velours (circa 1615) or Mars and Venus from Gillis Congnet, reflecting the cultural exchanges between France and the Netherlands at that time. Although closed to the visit, the site remains a key place for the conservation of the saintly heritage, managed by the municipality since its classification.

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