🏛️ Lieu
Patrimoine & Culture
Prison de la Motte Castrale
📍 Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais
· 62500 Saint-Omer
À propos
Here is a site that takes us back to the origins of the city! Formerly called the burg, from the Flemish "burg", the castle, it is the very first castle of the city founded by the first Counts of Flanders in the 10th century. It is one of the very rare examples of a castle mound that has been preserved in an urban setting. Its platform first carried a wooden tower and then archaeologists unearthed the old stone keep, which appeared on some engravings, and its shirt, a thick stone wall that surrounded it.
It was the residence of the lord of Saint-Omer who watched over the territory around the castle for the Count.
When he lost this role, the dungeon was turned into a prison. At the beginning of the 18th century it was destroyed and replaced a few decades later by a Vauban-type prison. This solid brick and stone construction on three levels has been remarkably well preserved and has just been restored. Its jails are now open to visitors and hold a few surprises... The building also hosts a series of exhibitions on the role of the city as the headquarters of the British Army's Great Headquarters during the Great War.
Around the building there is a garden that overlooks the surrounding area and offers both a unique view of the cathedral and remarkable panoramas of the city and its surroundings.
It was the residence of the lord of Saint-Omer who watched over the territory around the castle for the Count.
When he lost this role, the dungeon was turned into a prison. At the beginning of the 18th century it was destroyed and replaced a few decades later by a Vauban-type prison. This solid brick and stone construction on three levels has been remarkably well preserved and has just been restored. Its jails are now open to visitors and hold a few surprises... The building also hosts a series of exhibitions on the role of the city as the headquarters of the British Army's Great Headquarters during the Great War.
Around the building there is a garden that overlooks the surrounding area and offers both a unique view of the cathedral and remarkable panoramas of the city and its surroundings.
