LA VILLE HAUTE

Developing around the castle of the Counts and then Dukes of Bar, the upper town offers one of the most beautiful Renaissance ensembles in France. Very early, the Princes of Bar granted important privileges to this district in order to attract and maintain an aristocratic population in the vicinity of the castle. These notables, both lay and ecclesiastical, participate in the management of the barrois' business. The upper town, also known as the Halle, thus becoming the political, economic and judicial centre of the city. In order to protect this district and with a view to its development, Count Henri II (1214-1239) decided to fortify the "Bar mountain", this rocky spur (alt. 239 m) which dominates the Ornain valley. He transferred the city's trading activities there. But it was from the 15th century onwards that the upper town underwent its greatest transformations: even though the sovereign no longer resided there regularly, his visits, surrounded by a brilliant courtyard, notably composed of artists, were an opportunity to embellish the castle and the district. Relatively untouched by the religious wars of the 16th century, Bar-le-Duc enjoyed real economic prosperity until around 1630, the "beautiful 16th century", marked by the multiplication of freestone constructions. Wood, cob and corbels disappeared, giving way to facades with a rather sober appearance, characteristic of the Lorraine style, and marked by the influence of the Italian Renaissance. With the ramparts and the castle, the district retained its medieval character until 1670, when they were destroyed. Deprived of the presence of the dukes who preferred to live in Nancy, the district gradually declined in favour of the lower town, where trade and the bourgeoisie developed from the 18th century onwards. With the Revolution, all administrative and economic activities migrated to the valley. Paradoxically, it is to this decline that we owe the fact that we have kept this architectural heritage almost intact