Bourges (Cher)

Bourges Cathedral

Bourges (Cher) mini guide

Bourges is a city of light and music and is host to three grand annual pageants, Springtime in Bourges, Summer in Bourges and the Illuminated Nights, a magnificent sound and light show that combines culture, tourism, and heritage.

Bourges has delighted and inspired visitors through the ages. Julius Caesar said it is ‘one of the most beautiful cities in all of Gaule’. It was included on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1992 because of its old streets and its half-timbered houses. Bourges boasts a Gothic cathedral, sculpted mansions, stately palaces and a bustling medieval quarter which are all reminders of its rich historic past.

Bourges’ Cathedral began life in 1195 and was the first fully developed Gothic edifice south of the Loire Valley. The Cathedral St-Etienne is said to replicate Notre-Dame in Paris with its stunning stained glass window and astronomical clock.  It was designed on a colossal scale and has a pyramidal elevation, immense, wide-spaced piers, and the alternation of window and triforium openings between them create a diffused light. Later in the 13th century stained glass windows of the choir and ambulatory where added and create a dazzling mosaic of colours.

The Palace of Jacques Coeur was created by Jacques Coeur between 1441 and 1450 on Bourges' old Roman wall. He was head of a vast commercial empire and made his fortune as an arms dealer, market trader and shipping magnate and was knighted by King Charles VII. The mansion displays a flamboyant Gothic façade with exceptional décor. Window ledges and balconies are lined with hearts and seashells and a large fleur-de-lys crowns the chapel window. In the centre, a stone canopy once held a statue of King Charles VII astride his stallion.

Bourges was named ‘City of Art and History’ by André Malraux in 1962. It has maintained an impressive festival programme each year. One of the country’s foremost music festival is ‘Les Printemps de Bourges’ featuring hundreds of contemporary music acts from new rock groups to famous rappers it lasts for one week during the French Easter holidays. It draws an annual crowds of 100,000. More esoteric are the Festival Synthèse, an electronic and acoustic music performance during the first week of June, and Un Été à Bourges (late June to late September), a line-up of free, outdoor performances of anything from local organ music to Chinese jazz.

A stunning sound and light show sets the city aglow each evening in the summer. It is called the ‘Nuits Lumière’ and began in 2000. It illuminates the medieval district which takes on a new appearance at nightfall when specially designed lighting and sound effects are set into motion. The visitor is guided by a blue halo of light, which threads its way through the illuminated winding streets, stopping here and there to enable you to admire details of an elegantly carved porch, a gargoyle leaning from a doorway, or a timber-framed house silhouetted against the night sky, all bathed in a soft glow of light. Admission is free and starts at nightfall and lasts approximately two and half hours. The exciting night illuminations begin in May and conclude in September.