Bordeaux, clichés and received ideas
When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
John Ford
Whatever destination you choose for a vacation or weekend getaway, it’s rare that it doesn’t convey a few preconceived ideas or folkloric visions.
Stereotypical images, real or artificial symbols, authentic anecdotes and pure legends are all commonplace when talking about Bordeaux and its heritage. A number of preconceived ideas about Bordeaux are even unwittingly conveyed by the people of Bordeaux themselves, helping to create a somewhat caricatured image of the Gironde capital, which we are pleased to take the liberty of debunking in this article.
So let’s get down to the business of demolishing the most common misconceptions, as well as those most worthy of debate.
Is the stone bridge a tribute to Napoleon?
It’s certainly the most common misconception about Bordeaux. You read it everywhere, you hear it from (almost) everyone in Bordeaux: the stone bridge is said to have 17 arches, in homage to the 17 letters that make up the name Napoléon Bonaparte, because it was the Emperor who ordered the construction of Bordeaux’s first bridge.
While the second part is true, the first is completely fabricated. In fact, it was Napoleon who ordered the construction of a bridge over the Garonne in Bordeaux in two decrees in 1807 and 1808, but the bridge was built after his death. Napoleon abdicated definitively in 1815, while the project for a brick bridge was adopted, after many twists and turns, in 1819 and inaugurated in 1822, i.e. under the reign of Louis XVIII. Originally, this masonry bridge project was to have had 19 arches, but to save money, the design was changed to 17.
In addition, the white medallions on the pillars, which are now empty, originally bore Louis XVIII’s monogram, a double crowned L.
The stone bridge is actually more royal than imperial! And if it has 17 arches, like the 17 letters of Napoleon Bonaparte, that’s simply… by chance!
Was the cannelé invented by nuns?
Among all the received ideas about Bordeaux, the story of cannelés ranks very high. Here’s a lovely legend handed down from book to book that is, let’s face it, very appealing.
The cannelé is said to have been invented by nuns in a Bordeaux convent around the 18th century. They were in the habit of making a small cake for distribution to the poor, using egg yolks from the vineyards – the white being used to “collar” the wine, i.e. filter it – as well as flour, rum and vanilla, which were abundant on the city’s harbour quays at the time.
It’s a wonderful story, which highlights the very Christian charity of these nuns.
In reality, although a cake called canelat or canelon did exist, it had nothing to do with the cannelé we know today. Rather, it was a pastry rolled up on a rod and fried in lard!
No one is in a position to say by whom or when the modern cannelé was invented. For some, it dates back to the 1920s, for others to the interwar period. In any case, it wasn’t until the 80s that it truly became the symbol of Bordeaux. A rather recent tradition, then…
As for the nuns, come to think of it, it’s hard to imagine that they bought expensive vanilla and rum to make cakes for distribution to the poor…
Is the Place des Quinconces the largest square in Europe?
This opens up a Pandora’s box of received ideas about Bordeaux. Even the city of Bordeaux proudly advertises the Place des Quinconces as the largest square in Europe.
It’s true that this 12-hectare square is big. But where does it come from? In the 15th century, the site was the northern boundary of Bordeaux, and was occupied, from the 1450s onwards, by a small fortress built by King Charles VII of France to keep watch over the Garonne and the people of Bordeaux. In the second half of the 17th century, this modest castle was replaced by a huge fortress built under Vauban’s supervision, extending with its defensive lines as far as the Grand Théâtre and the Allées de Tourny.
These two successive fortresses were named “Château Trompette”, not as a tribute to any musician, but as a reference to the river that runs through the area and empties into the Garonne.
So, is it really the largest square in Europe? A quick search reveals that Warsaw’s Parade Square covers an area of 24 hectares. We’re no maths or geography experts, but a priori 24 is greater than 12 and Warsaw is well within Europe.
Some Lyon residents will also protest that the Place Bellecour can compete for this purely honorary title… It really depends on how you calculate: do you count any buildings and monuments located on the squares, or just the pedestrian spaces; if a road crosses the square, does that reduce its surface area? Etc.
It’s a big debate, but in the end, who cares who has the biggest square?
Did Bordeaux make its fortune from its wines?
If there’s one product that has made Bordeaux famous, it’s its wine. Has it contributed to the city’s fortunes, or is that just a preconceived notion? True, but only in part.
Wine was Bordeaux’s main export in the Middle Ages, particularly during the Anglo-Gascon period (1154-1453). A peak in exports was reached at the very beginning of the 14th century, in the years 1308-1310, with the equivalent of 120 million 75 cl bottles exported annually! This largely contributed to the city’s first golden age.
But the Bordeaux we see today has nothing in common with the city of the Middle Ages; it’s predominantly 18th-century, the city’s second and true apogee. At the time, Bordeaux was France’s leading port, specializing in straight trade to the West Indies: Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), Guadeloupe and Martinique in particular. There, the Bordelais sold the products of their hinterland to the colonists: wine, brandy, cereals, clothing, tools, etc., and bought exotic products on the spot, which they then brought back to Bordeaux: sugar cane, cocoa, coffee, indigo. These products were then resold by Bordeaux merchants to foreign intermediaries living on the spot, particularly Northern Europeans (Germans, Dutch, English), who would then re-export these exotic products to their countries of origin.
Bordeaux was therefore a hub of colonial trade in the 18th century, and it was this that really filled the pockets of the Bordelais.
At the same time, the Bordelais also engaged in the slave trade, deporting around 150,000 Africans between 1672 and 1826, which represents around 11.5% of the French slave trade.
Generally speaking, it is the port rather than the wine that has enriched Bordeaux over the centuries, even if it is the latter that has given it its prestige.
Is Bordeaux a bourgeois city?
We hear this preconceived notion about Bordeaux from one out of every two visitors. And it’s true that, if you’re just strolling through the beautiful neighborhoods, Bordeaux can quickly give the impression of being a very clean, bourgeois city.
And yet… while the commercial bourgeoisie played a major role in the city’s construction and liked to show off in its urban planning, there can never be a bourgeoisie without a working class.
Bordeaux was a major port throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. A port that remained in the city center until 1987. For centuries, Bordeaux’s quays were filled with merchandise and small-scale workers to keep the port’s economy going. In the 1910s, for example, there were 6,000 people working in the shipyards, and over 2,000 dockers in the 1950s. All these men and women of modest means lived in the working-class districts of Bordeaux, notably Saint-Michel.
Although Bordeaux was never a major industrial city, it did have several factory districts: Bacalan, La Bastide and Belcier. These neighborhoods were home to workers and their families, as were several military barracks around which soldiers’ families lived.
Finally, Bordeaux is also a city of immigration. Spanish and Portuguese, who arrived in the 19th century and settled in the south of the city around the Capucins market, then North Africans, Africans, Turks, Kurds and Eastern Europeans.
The city is therefore more popular and cosmopolitan than it appears, even if this part of its identity has tended to fade over the years.
What about you? Are there any recurring images, clichés or myths about your hometown that annoy you? Let us know by commenting below!