Explorer Bordeaux

The Palais Rohan is the former archbishop's palace of Bordeaux, built from 1772 to 1784 for Archbishop Ferdinand Maximilien Mériadec de Rohan and used as the city hall since 1837. Its main facade faces a courtyard off Place Pey-Berland; inside, shown on guided tours, are a three-flight stone staircase by Richard-François Bonfin and salons with carved wood panelling.

Bordeaux Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Andrew, is the seat of the Archbishop of Bordeaux. Consecrated in 1096, it was rebuilt in Gothic style from the 13th to the 16th century; Eleanor of Aquitaine married the future Louis VII here in 1137. Its bell tower, the Tour Pey-Berland, stands apart from the church, and its 13th-century Royal Portal keeps its original sculpture.

The Musée d'Aquitaine is Bordeaux's municipal museum of history, housed since 1987 in the former Faculty of Letters and Sciences on the cours Pasteur, built in the 1880s. More than 70,000 objects trace the region from prehistory, with the Venus of Laussel, through Roman Burdigala to the port's Atlantic trade and its role in the slave trade.

The Grosse Cloche is a 15th-century gate and belfry of Bordeaux's medieval walls, built over the 13th-century Porte Saint-Éloi on the pilgrims' road to Santiago de Compostela. Two round towers 40 metres high frame the bell chamber, whose bell, cast in 1775, weighs 7,800 kilograms. It served as the belfry of the old town hall and appears on the city's coat of arms.

The Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux is an opera house designed by Victor Louis and inaugurated in 1780, now home to the Opéra National de Bordeaux. Its portico of twelve Corinthian columns carries statues of the nine Muses and three goddesses; inside are a grand staircase that served as a model for the Palais Garnier and a blue-and-gold auditorium restored in 1991.

The Place de la Bourse is an 18th-century royal square on the Garonne quays, designed by Jacques Gabriel and completed by his son Ange-Jacques Gabriel between 1730 and 1775. The former stock exchange and the Hôtel des Fermes frame the Three Graces fountain of 1869, and across the quay the Miroir d'eau, a granite slab under two centimetres of water, reflects the facades.

The Porte Cailhau is a 35-metre city gate on Place du Palais in Bordeaux, built between 1493 and 1496 as part of the medieval town walls facing the Garonne. It combines defensive features such as machicolations and arrow slits with pointed roofs and a statue of King Charles VIII; inside, an exhibition on medieval Bordeaux leads up through the tower to a view of the river.

The Place des Quinconces is a 12-hectare square laid out in the early 19th century on the site of the demolished Château Trompette, named after the quincunx pattern of its trees. At one end stands the Monument aux Girondins (1894–1902), a 54-metre column with bronze fountains; at the other, two rostral columns of 1829 face the Garonne.

The Basilica of St. Michael is a Flamboyant Gothic church in Bordeaux's Saint-Michel quarter, built from the 14th to the 16th century and made a minor basilica in 1903. Its detached bell tower, the Flèche Saint-Michel, rises 114 metres and was built between 1472 and 1492. The church is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela.

The Jardin public is a 10.8-hectare park in central Bordeaux, created in 1746–1756 under the intendant Tourny as a formal French garden designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel. It was remodelled in 1856–1858 as an English landscape garden with lawns, winding paths and a pond with two islands, and the city's botanical garden has occupied part of it since 1858.

The Pont de pierre was the first bridge across the Garonne at Bordeaux, begun under Napoleon in 1810 and completed in 1822 under Louis XVIII to plans by the engineers Claude Deschamps and Jean-Baptiste Billaudel. Built of stone and brick, it is 487 metres long with 17 arches and links the city centre with the La Bastide district on the right bank.

The Musée du Vin et du Négoce is a private museum on the Bordeaux wine trade, opened in 2008 in a merchant's house built in 1720 at 41 rue Borie in the Chartrons quarter. Its collection of documents, rare bottles, films and winemaking tools fills the vaulted semi-underground cellars, and the visit ends with a commented tasting of two wines.

The Bassins des Lumières is a digital art centre in Bordeaux's former submarine base, a concrete bunker built by German forces from 1941 in the Bacalan district. Opened in 2020 by Culturespaces, it projects images set to music onto the walls of four water-filled submarine pens, each 110 metres long, with exhibitions on painters and themes that change during the year.