# Église Sainte-Marie The former church turned covered market - **Place**: Sarlat-la-Canéda - **Period**: XIVᵉ–XVᵉ siècles · réhabilitée en 2001 - **Type**: Religious building - **Protection**: Listed historic monument - **Mérimée record**: PA00082930 - **Coordinates**: 44.8901, 1.2166 Built from 1365 and consecrated in 1507, this Gothic church, deconsecrated during the Revolution, was transformed in 2001 by the architect Jean Nouvel into a covered market, closed by two monumental steel doors. ## History - **1365 — Laying the foundations** The first foundations are laid in 1365 to replace the parish church. - **1479 — Work resumes** The architect Pierre Esclanche builds the first bay, the façade, the great door and the bell tower. - **1507 — The consecration** The church is consecrated on 5 April 1507 by Bishop Armand de Gontaut-Biron. - **1794 — Deconsecration** The church is deconsecrated and then sold off in parcels; its nave is put to secular uses. - **2001 — Rehabilitation by Jean Nouvel** The architect transforms the building into a covered market and closes it with two monumental steel doors. ## Figures - **Jean Nouvel · né en 1945 · Architect** A French architect of international renown, born in Fumel not far from the Périgord, Jean Nouvel first made his name with the Institut du monde arabe in Paris. Winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2008, in 2001 he designed the conversion of the église Sainte-Marie into a covered market and its monumental steel doors. - **Pierre Esclanche · XVᵉ siècle · Master builder** When work resumed in 1479, the architect Pierre Esclanche raised the first bay, the façade, the great doorway and the bell tower of the église Sainte-Marie. ## Places - **The monumental Jean Nouvel doors · Two 5.7-tonne steel doors on the main façade** Delivered in 2000 as part of the conversion of the former church into a covered market, these doors designed by Sarlat-born architect Jean Nouvel measure 15.60 metres high by 4.80 metres wide and each weigh 5.7 tonnes. Made of perfectly planar anthracite steel by the ACMR company in Rochefort — a firm specialised in lock gates — they deliberately oppose their industrial mass to the medieval limestone. They open like a giant shutter on market days. - **The panoramic elevator · 35 metres of glass inside the medieval bell tower** Inaugurated in February 2012, ten years after the building reopened as a covered market, this elevator, also designed by Jean Nouvel, is installed inside the bell tower stripped of its fittings and roofing. The all-glass cabin measures 204 × 204 × 250 cm and rises at one metre per second up to a viewing platform offering a 360° panorama over the preserved sector's lauze roofs, Saint-Sacerdos Cathedral and the Lantern of the Dead. A twelve-minute guided tour completes the ascent. ## Key facts - **15 m — Jean Nouvel's doors** the architect closed the former chancel with two steel doors more than 15 metres high, each weighing over 5.7 tonnes. - **360° — A lift in the bell tower** a panoramic lift installed in the bell tower rises to a height of 35 metres, offering a 360° view over the town. - **1794 — A church turned shop** deconsecrated during the Revolution, the nave served as a bakery, a wood and coal store, a post office and even a dispensary. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why is a church used as a market? Deconsecrated during the Revolution in 1794, the church was sold off in lots and put to every use, from bakery to dispensary. Jean Nouvel turned it into a covered market in 2001. ### What are the steel doors? Two anthracite steel leaves 15.60 metres high, weighing 5.7 tonnes each, designed by Jean Nouvel and delivered in 2000. They were made by a firm that builds lock gates, and swing open like a giant shutter on market days. ### Can you go up the bell tower? Yes, a glass panoramic lift was installed in 2012, also designed by Jean Nouvel. It rises thirty-five metres to a platform with a 360° view over the lauze roofs, the cathedral and the Lantern of the Dead. ### When is the market held? The open-air market is held on Wednesday and Saturday mornings around the church, on the same spot for eight centuries. The covered market, inside the former nave, opens on more days depending on the season. ## Links - Full page: https://opusheritage.com/en/villes/sarlat-la-caneda/eglise-sainte-marie - Town: https://opusheritage.com/en/villes/sarlat-la-caneda - Reference: https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/PA00082930 - Reference: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22987994 - Reference: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_Sainte-Marie_de_Sarlat --- Source: OPUS Heritage, https://opusheritage.com/en/villes/sarlat-la-caneda/eglise-sainte-marie. Content published by the town of Sarlat-la-Canéda.