Grosse Cloche
Medieval belfry gate with twin round towers, a jail behind ten-centimetre oak doors, and a leopard weathervane.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Grosse Cloche in Bordeaux opens with a teenager dragged through this very gate for breaking curfew, into a jail the medieval city kept beneath its belfry behind ten-centimetre oak doors. You'll hear why Bordelais nicknamed the place the Hotel du Lion d'Or after the gilded English leopard weathervane still turning above it, a leftover from the centuries Bordeaux answered to England rather than France. The guide also follows Armande-Louise, the bell recast in 1775 after earlier bells cracked from constant ringing, and what she has been rung for over the centuries.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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