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Origin and history

The house of Richelieu, built in 1632, is part of the ambitious urban project of Cardinal Richelieu, which transformed his native village into a planned city. The architect Jacques Lemercier, also responsible for the castle, designed the plans of this ideal city, marked by symmetrical streets, ditches, and aligned houses. This house, with its facade overlooking the Market Square, its shops on the ground floor and its wooden staircase, illustrates this rational urban model.

The construction was probably carried out by the entrepreneur Jean Thiriot for Gilles Bartellemi, who sold it after the cardinal's death in 1642. The building preserves remarkable elements such as a 17th century fireplace in the courtyard and 18th century lambris side street. The facade and roof, protected in 1932, testify to the heritage importance of this vestige of the new town of Richelieu.

Cardinal de Richelieu, minister of Louis XIII, used this project to assert his power and modernist vision. The city, surrounded by monumental walls and doors, was to embody order and grandeur, reflecting the political ambitions of its founder. This house, through its alignment and architecture, participates in this collective symbolism.

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