Visite guidée Cœur de Ville

Today, by following this “Coeur de Ville” guided tour, you enter a city dreamed up by one man, Charles de Gonzague. Let your guide lead you to discover each of the subtleties that have made the Ardennes capital.

Let's go back to May 6, 1606. Charles de Gonzague, nephew of Henry IV, Duke of Nevers and Count of Rethel, governor of Champagne, has just celebrated his 26th birthday.

On this occasion, he decided to create a large capital for his new sovereign principality. Charles-ville was born. The prince intends to create his own ideal city there. The Ardennes bastion of the Counter-Reformation which will compete with the nearby Protestant princely capital, Sedan.

For this major project, he called on Clément Métezeau, brother of the renowned Louis Métezeau, architect of the Place Royale in Paris, now the current Place des Vosges.

He wants this new city according to a very precise plan. This checkerboard structure where the number 4 is omnipresent. The project notably provides for a central square, which would become the jewel of its vision, Place Ducale.
127 meters long by 90 meters, it is framed by 27 pavilions which all obey the rule of 4. Each of them has 4 bays, 4 bays on each floor, 4 skylights and 4 oculi on the roof. It is the starting point of 4 streets leading to the 4 districts that make up the city.