Bordeaux Favorite Tips by hquittner Top 5 Page for this destination

The "Grosse Cloche" Is Not a Clock

Favorite thing: Cloche is French for bell and clocher means belfry (or bell-tower), derived from Celtic clocca or clang (the sound of a bell). A large clock in French is "horloge". This tower (actually originally a belfry part of a gate in the city wall is from the 13C. There were no clockwork mechanisms developed at that time. There is a modest bell in the arch about midway up and a small clock as well below it. When built it was used to send various messages (church belfries indicated time because they called monks to their time related services). Much of this structure and the bell were destroyed long ago by a king as a punishment to the unruly Bordelais.

St.-Michel's Belfry & Freestanding Others

Favorite thing: The belfry of the Church of St.-Michel was erected at the end of a church complex at the end of the 15C. The intervening church buildings were destroyed during the Revolution. This is what also befell buildings at the Cathedral leaving the Tour Pey-Berland isolated. This is why there are many free standing belfries like this in France (We have seen another in Auxerre). This tower has a hexagonal base with a 12 sided spire. It is 114 meters tall and is the tallest steeple in the South of France, and of course the tallest spire in town.