A European walk through Bordeaux. 2.
Through the
Eyes of the Schopenhauers,
Hôtel de la Molère ou "l'Hôtel de Fumel" - Place Jean Jaurès et de la rue
Esprit-des-Lois.
Between 5 February
and 24 March 1804, for “nearly two
months,” the young Arthur
Schopenhauer and his parents lodged
at the Hôtel de Fumel at the corner of Place Richelieu
(today Place Jean Jaurès) and Rue Esprit des Lois.
The building was erected between 1777 and 1779 for
Jean-Baptiste de la Molère (1734-1808), advisor to the Parliament of
Bordeaux. He hardly lived there, however, as he rented it
out from September 1782, then emigrated in 1792 and set off for Santo Domingo. Confiscated
as national property, the hotel
was sold, then resold and finally bought by a caterer named Gabriel Salles. He created a bed-and-breakfast there that he
called Hôtel de Fumel, perhaps
in memory of Count Fumel, who had
been mayor of Bordeaux in
1790 before being guillotined during the Reign of Terror. The
establishment became one of the best in Bordeaux, welcoming all the distinguished visitors under the Empire, including Murat, King of Naples, in
1802 and three weeks later Junot, accompanied by his wife the Duchess
of Abrantes, who would then return when her husband
came back from his mission
in Lisbon. Purchased from its owner
by the person running the hotel
in 1806, Hôtel de Fumel was
then sold to the court after the death of its owner in
1820. In 1911, it became the property of the
Société civile immobilière et commerciale du Sud-Ouest, which
went on to become the
Banque populaire du Sud-Ouest banking group in 1977.
On the morning of 5 February 1804, the Schopenhauer family
boarded the city’s
brigantine, used by travellers
to cross amidst a multitude of boats
of all sorts. It is here that they saw
Bordeaux’s Port de la lune for the first time, a port named for its crescent moon
shape that extends over the left bank of the Garonne. Johanna Schopenhauer is rapturous about her sighting: “Bordeaux stretched away from us in a vast semicircle at the very edge of the meander of this wide river...
An absolutely enchanting sight.”
The description of her
son, aged seventeen at the
time, is very similar to her own. It is complementary,
if not identical. On 5 February
1804, Arthur Schopenhauer, evermore concise but equally enthusiastic, writes: “This magnificent view of the most beautiful city in France took me
by surprise. The spires of the city’s various steeples stand out against
the skyline. It is a magnificent and most imposing picture.” He goes on: “The most beautiful area of Bordeaux is indeed its banks,
as seen from the other side of the Garonne and whose view caught
me so completely unawares.”
Johanna observed this other bank
also, from the windows of her hotel in Place Richelieu: “We
have arrived at Hôtel de Fumel, one of the town’s most beautiful
houses, offering very comfortable and pleasant accommodation... we will never forget
the months of spring, whose stealthy approach we would
seek from its windows, advancing
little by little from the end of February.”
The Schopenhauer family remained in Bordeaux until 24
March 1804. They walked often … …
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Head for Place de
la Bourse and stop in front of the
fountain.
© Bertrand Favreau
and Tyché Editions 2014
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