Tucked away in amongst the busy thoroughfares of Bordeaux are a couple of covered arcades which offer a time capsule-like glimpse into the shopping malls of yesteryear.

 

Our first stop is the elegant Passage Sarget, which connects Place du Chapelet with Cours de l’Intendance. Opened in 1878, the arcade is named after Baron Sarget, a local dignitary (his mansion house was located nearby) who funded its construction.

In 1917, Passage Sarget was purchased by the wine trader Nicolas Désiré-Cordier. Just two years later he sold it on to the city of Bordeaux for 1 million francs. The city was keen to acquire the passageway because pedestrians far preferred walking through the arcade to the road that runs parallel, Rue Martignac, which was considered unsafe at the time.

Top left is Rue Martignac, which is possibly not as rough as it once was.

During later renovations, archaeological digs took place and uncovered the traces of ancient baths and mosaics. Some objects which were retrieved dated back to the 1st century… Don’t expect to be able to enjoy a hot bath there now though; the arcade is solely comprised of luxury shops and tearooms! However, the atmosphere is unique, thanks in part to the arcade’s glass roof and metal framework, which for many years was obscured by a suspended ceiling.

Elegant features, classy shops and all within easy reach of the tram!

The second, slightly older exhibit is Galerie Bordelaise, which forms an unusual diagonal channel through the middle of its surrounding buildings, between Rue des Piliers de Tutelle and Rue Sainte-Catherine. This arcade was the work of the architect Gabriel-Joseph Durand and opened for the first time in April 1834. It had initially been funded by four rich South-American traders who had fled war in Mexico.

Possibly the most timeless of the thirteen trade units in the arcade is the Verdeun scale model and toy shop. As well as its arcade-side entrance, the roadside shopfront of this store is particularly charming (which also features in a blog item dedicated to Bordeaux shop fronts). The shop was founded in 1948 by Maurice Verdeun, a successful track cyclist who won a world championship title in 1950! His sons Bruno and Frédéric now run the shop.

Despite undergoing renovations, funded by the outlets themselves (which also include a bicycle shop, a shoe shop, a café, a chemists and a theatre and concert booking office), the arcade is looking the worse for wear: cracked windowpanes, peeling paintwork and moulded or sculpted features that need attention. Furthermore, a number of the units are currently unoccupied and have been for some time. Will Galerie Bordelaise ever make a full recovery and enjoy the kind of golden period it experienced a century ago?

For it was here that, in 1896, a young man called Albert Mollat took over a small bookshop that had previously belonged to his cousin (I have yet to work out which Galerie Bordelaise unit it was located in). Mollat adopted an ambitious pricing strategy, branched out into publishing itself and by 1928 the shop had outgrown its premises. It moved to a new location, taking over property on the spot of the final Bordeaux living quarters of the writer and thinker Montesquieu. The shop, which is still called Mollat, is part of the genetic makeup of anyone who lives in Bordeaux. It has continued to flourish and expand, and today ranks as the biggest independent bookshop in France.

> Find them on the Invisible Bordeaux map: Passage Sarget, Galerie Bordelaise, Mollat bookshop, Bordeaux.

As reported in the previous Invisible Bordeaux item, in the early years of the 20th century, the small community of Croix d’Hins became synonymous with its airfield. But as the airfield faded into obscurity, Croix d’Hins provided the setting for the construction of the world’s most powerful radio transmitter station.

The eight-pylon station, which covered an area of 400 metres by 1,200 metres (the equivalent of 96 football pitches!), was a by-product of the First World War. During the conflict, ocean-bed telephone cables were severed and alternative means of long-range communication had to be explored. At the time, radiotelegraphy (or TSF in French, télégraphie sans fil) was developing rapidly and when the US joined Allied operations in 1917, they needed a reliable and permanent communications channel between Europe and the States.

The quiet village of Croix d’Hins, a district of Marcheprime that lies mid-way between Bordeaux and Arcachon, is a succession of residential streets broken up solely by the occasional small industrial plant. This image is far-removed from its status as one of the birthplaces of aviation (and later large-scale radio transmission). For the full story, let’s travel back in time to 1903!

For it was around this time that the flat expanses of land in Croix d’Hins were deemed to be an ideal setting for an airfield by the pioneering pilots and aircraft builders Louis Blériot and Gabriel Voisin. Space was cleared on a stretch alongside the railway line and these early aviators found themselves with 7,400 acres (3,000 hectares) to play with, making Croix d’Hins one of the biggest airfields in the world at the time! Blériot made good use of the installations, trialling a number of his creations there.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the photo contest organised jointly with the Bonjour Bordeaux daily photo website and the Tapa’l’oeil tapas bar.

Over recent weeks we had asked for photos that captured an unusual sight or scene in and around Bordeaux. On Thursday July 4th, a select gathering assessed 25 submissions and the winning photo is this one by Clacla des Bois. It shows a familiar sight, the two 21-metre-high rostral columns which have watched over the Esplanade des Quinconces since 1829, as viewed from an unfamiliar angle: instead of the wide, open space of the Esplanade, they are peeking through a blanket of trees, making for an unusual urban forest!

The Médoc village of Cussac-Fort-Médoc boasts one of the most grandiose sights in the area: the 17th-century Fort Médoc, one of three fortified structures that make up “le verrou de l’Estuaire” (the bolt of the Gironde estuary), dreamt up by the military architect and engineer Vauban.

The story goes that in 1685, Sébastien Le Prestre, better-known as Marquis de Vauban, was surveying the Atlantic coast. Vauban had been appointed Marshal of France (the country’s highest military distinction) under Louis XIV and was on the lookout for any location that might undermine the Sun King’s authority. Assessing the citadel of Blaye, which had often proved vulnerable to British invaders, he established that it would have to be strengthened and that the Estuary as a whole needed to be “locked” in order to protect the city of Bordeaux, further upstream.