The Palais Rohan is the name of the Hôtel de Ville, or City Hall, of Bordeaux. In 1771, the new Archbishop of Bordeaux, Ferdinand Maximilien Mériadec, prince of Rohan, decided to rebuilt the old medieval archbishopric, not enough worthy of its rank.
Designed by the architect Richard-François Bonfin, it took 13 years to build and was completed in 1784. It is a hotel particulier, entre cour et jardin (between Courtyard and Garden), and features an austere Louis XVI-style façade. Its staircase is considered a masterpiece of stone masonry.
After the French Revolution, the building housed in 1791 the Gironde department prefecture before becoming the Bordeaux Town Hall in 1835.
Designed in 1889, the municipal council room is characteristic of official architecture during the Third Republic.
The garden, initially designed in the French formal style, now takes on an English landscape style. Since 1880, it has been bordered by two wings that house the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux.
References:Sigmaringen Castle was first mentioned in the year 1077 in the chronicles of Petershausen monastery. The oldest parts of the castle are concealed beneath the alterations made during the 17th and the 19th centuries. The secret of the earliest settlement built on this defendable rock will never be fully revealed: large-scale excavation work would be necessary, which the extensive land development renders impossible. Judging from the many Roman remains unearthed in the area around Sigmaringen, the 12th century keep known as the 'Roman Tower' could be traced back to a Roman predecessor.
The castle remains that have been preserved (gate, great hall and keep) date back to the Staufer period around 1200. The castle remains were integrated into subsequent buildings. The foundations of the castle buildings are to a large extent identical to the surrounding castle wall.
These remains give us a good idea of how the castle might have looked during the 12th century.