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Bordeaux Opens to the World

(Exchange Square) Built between 1729 and 1755, the Place de la Bourse, originally known as the Place Royale, was dedicated to the glory of King Louis XV (1729-1755). The city of Bordeaux from that time on no longer looked inward but turned its sights to the River Garonne and consequently to the world.



Quai du Maréchal Lyautey > Tram C, Place de la Bourse station.

Jacques Gabriel and Son

From the mid 1600s, Bordeaux entered a commercial and demographical boom period which lasted to the French Revolution and was largely centred around the city’s port and the commerce of wine, sugar from the colonies, and, it must be said, slaves. Yet at the beginning of the eighteenth century the city was still confined within its medieval walls until the arrival of the new Intendant of the town, Claude Boucher. Boucher engaged the services of the king’s architect, Jacques Gabriel (1667 – 1742), to draw up the plans which would open the town to the river and offer a more engaging face to the visitor coming upstream or from the right bank of the Garonne. On his arrival in Bordeaux in 1729 on casting his eye along the port of Bordeaux and the curve of the river he declared, “it well deserved something recommendable for posterity.” In the same year he laid down the plans for three projects of which the least ambitious in terms of urbanism was retained by the Jurats (city councillors). After a series of modifications the final plans for the Place Royale were signed on 22 March 1733.

On the death of Jacques Gabriel in 1742, his son, Ange-Jacques, took over to 1755. The statue of Louis XV on horseback, erected as the square’s centrepiece, was inaugurated in 1749 and symbolised the town’s prosperity.

Tourny takes over from Boucher

The monumental construction of the Place de la Bourse (Place Royale) constituted the first step in the town’s modernisation and embellishment which was carried forth with Louis-Urbain-Aubert de Tourny who became Intendant in 1743. It was not until the 19th and 20th centuries however that the Place de la Bourse was finally completed with the final extensions and the creation of the Place Gabriel, named after the architects.

Place Imperial

During the French Revolution the square was renamed Place de la Liberty, then became Place Imperial a few years later under Napoleon 1st, and with his abdication and the return of the Burbon king, Louis XVIII, the square was rebaptized as Place Royale. On the fall of Louis-Philippe 1st and the instauration of the 2nd Republic in 1848 the square took on its present name of Place de la Bourse.

Mascarons of Bordeaux

The façades introduced the first mascarons of young ladies and bearded men, a typical 18th rococo fantasie which was to become characteristic of Bordeaux façades. The clock face is by Hustin, the first earthenware manufacturer of Bordeaux founded by Pierre Hustin, at the time managed by Jacques Hustin. (two clock faces inside also by Hustin). The interior décor is in the rococo style which became the fashion towards the end of the 1720s.

Today the Place de la Bourse houses the Chamber of Commerce on the north side and the Customs museum (Musée des Douanes) on the south side.

The Three Graces

During the French Revolution the bronze statue of Louis XV on horseback was dismantled and smelted down in 1792 and replaced by a “tree of liberty”. This in turn was “uprooted” in 1828 during the French Restoration period under Charles X and replaced by a modest column shaped fountain of pink marble surmounted by a white capital and a globe. The present fountain by Louis Visconti was erected in 1869 and is known a the Three Graces (Empress Eugénie, Queen Victoria and Isabelle II of Espagne) personifying…
A miniature copy of the equestrian statue of Louis XV can be seen in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. During the recent development of the tramway the fountain was removed. On completion of the Place de la Bourse underground car park the question arose as to whether or not to erect a replica of the bronze statue of Louis XV on horseback, but finally the Three Graces which had been there since the 2nd Empire and were put back.