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Origin and history

The Episcopal Palace of Uzès, located on the bishop's square in the department of Gard, was rebuilt from 1662 under the impulse of Bishop Jacques Adhémar of Monteil de Grignan. The construction, completed in 1674, required the partial demolition of the medieval enclosure of the city and the acquisition of adjacent houses to clear a court of honor. The plans were drawn by Sieur Roché, Prior of the Souche, and the work carried out by the masons Mathieu Jarquet and Balthazar Petit. The atlantes of the balcony, works by sculptors Jean and Guillaume Croisé, as well as the sill windows (deleted in 1678), mark his architectural style of the Grand Century.

Sold as a national property during the Revolution, the palace changed several times in ownership, including the Baron de Castille. Disused in 1926 after the departure of the sub-prefecture, he suffered a partial collapse in 1973 during restoration work. Since 1978, it has been home to the Georges Burias Museum, the municipal archives, a court of instance, and cultural associations. Its inscription to historical monuments in 1981 preserved its facades, roofs, and remarkable elements such as the entrance gate and its gate.

The building illustrates the urban evolution of Uzès, where the episcopal power shaped the space between the cathedral and the canonical district. Its transformation into a cultural and administrative place reflects the successive adaptations of a religious heritage after secularisation. The atlantes and interior decorations, although partially altered, still bear witness to its original fascist, linked to the influence of local bishops in the seventeenth century.

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