Place de la Bourse

Place de la Bourse is an ideal spot one can start this city tour is a place that will immediately help a visitor understand why Bordeaux is the largest urban UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world right now.

Originally called Place Royale, then Place de la Liberté & later Place Impériale following the political developments of the time, the square finally took the name of the former Stock Exchange Hall building (Palais de la Bourse), today housing Bordeaux’s Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

This wonderful building is only a part of the whole 18th-century ensemble of symmetrical palace-like mansions in front of the Garonne River surrounding the historic square. The three Graces fountain & Le Miroir d’Eau, the 130 meters-thin layer of mirror-like reflecting water pool give the whole place a dreamy, fairytale appearance.

The fountain of the “Three Graces” in bronze and marble which adorns the center of the square is the work of Alphonse Gumery assisted by the sculptor Amédée Jouandot after drawings by Ludovico Visconti. Inaugurated in 1869, it replaces a bronze equestrian statue of Louis XV, a masterpiece by Jean-Baptiste Lemoine inaugurated in 1743 and melted down during the Revolution. The three Graces, daughters of Zeus bore the names of Thalia, Aglaé, and Euphrosyne.