columns which serve as
lighthouses. On its west side there is a monument to the Girondin
deputies proscribed under the convention in 1793. At its south-west
corner the Place des Quinconces opens into the Place de la Comedie,
which contains the Grand Theatre (18th century), the masterpiece of the
architect Victor Louis. The Place de la Comedie, the centre of business
in Bordeaux, is traversed by a street which, under the names of Cours du
Chapeau-Rouge, rue de l'Intendance and rue Judaique, runs from the Place
de la Bourse and the quai de la Douane on the east to the outer
boulevards on the west. Another important thoroughfare, the rue Sainte
Catherine, runs at right angles to the rue de l'Intendance and enters
the Place de la Comedie on the south. The Pont de Bordeaux is continued
by the Cours Victor Hugo, a curved street crossing the rue Sainte
Catherine and leading to the cathedral of St Andre. This church, dating
from the 11th to the 14th centuries, is a building in the Gothic style
with certain Romanesque features, chief among which are the arches in
the nave. It consists of a large nave without aisles, a transept at the
extremities of which are the main entrances, and a choir, flanked by
double aisles and chapels and containing many works of art. Both the
north and south facades are richly decorated with sculpture and
statuary. Of the four towers flanking the principal portals, only those
to the north are surmounted by spires. Near the choir stands an isolated
tower. It contains the great bell of the cathedral and is known as the
Clocher Pey-Berland, after the archbishop of Bordeaux who erected it in
the 15th century. Of the numerous other churches of Bordeaux the most
notable are St Seurin (11th to the 15th centuries), with a finely
sculptured southern portal; Ste Croix (12th and 13th centuries),
remarkable for its Romanesque facade; and St Michel, a fine Gothic
building of the 15th and 16th centuries. The bell tower of St Michel,
which has the highest spire (354 ft.) in the south of France, dates from
the end of the 15th century, and, like that of the cathedral, stands
apart from its church. The palace of the Faculties of Science and of
Letters (1881-1886) contains the tomb of Michel de Montaigne. The
prefecture, the hotel de ville, the bourse and the custom-house belong
to the 15th century. The law-courts and the hospital of St Andre (the
foundation of which dates from 1390) belong to the first half of the
19th c