"It is one of the rare civil monuments (with the Cailhau gate) that the city preserves from the Middle Ages. It was restored from July 4 to 22, 2016.
It was built in the 15th century on the remains of the old Porte Saint-Éloy (also called Porte Saint James) from the 13th century (backing onto the Saint-Éloi church from the 12th century), open on the rampart from the 13th century and under which the pilgrims of Saint-Jacques passed on their way to Compostela. Hence the name of the neighboring rue Saint-James, Saint-James being the Gascon name of Saint-Jacques.
All the successive modifications carried out between the 15th and 17th centuries transformed the primitive appearance of this gate, which became a belfry, the bell tower of the municipal ban having been added to it from the 15th century.
The magistrates of the city rang the bell to give the signal for the harvest and alert the population in the event of the outbreak of fires.
This is the reason why it has always been the symbol of the city and still appears today on the coat of arms of the city. The people of Bordeaux are very attached to this bell.
When the king wanted to punish them for their insubordination, he had the bell removed: the inhabitants were soon to fall into line to find their emblem ... This is how it was taken from the Bordelais by King Henry II. and broken to punish them for their revolt of 1548 (the jacquerie des pitauds); the bell returned in 1561 to the delight of the inhabitants.
It is composed of two circular towers 40 meters high connected by a central building and dominated by the golden leopard. Originally it was a set of four round and crenellated towers to which were added, in the 12th century, two other towers and only rose one storey. These last two were located at the location of the middle of the current Victor Hugo course which was at the time a ditch along the rampart.
After the fire of 1755, the crenellations and campanile crown the covered towers in the shape of a pepperbox.
In the center of the wrought iron gate (18th century) which closes the bay in which the bell is located, an escutcheon represents the arms of the city while, on the north face, grimacing 15th century gargoyles remain with, below, inscriptions engraved on black marble and dated 1592.
The current bell was cast in June 1775 by the founder Turmeau (see the plaque under the tower). It weighs 7,800 kg for two meters in height and diameter. It is classified as an object since July 4, 1991. It sounded the commemoration of the victory of May 8, 1945, since because of its weight and the risk of cracks that could cause the vibrations of the bell, it does not. rang the bell only a few times, when it was replaced in the campanile, following its restoration and during General de Gaulle's visit to the city on April 10, 1961.
Until June 2016, it rang every year five times a year. January 1 (New Year), May 8 (Victory of May 8, 1945), July 14 (national holiday), August 28 (liberation of Bordeaux in 1944) and November 11 (Armistice of 1918) in the presence of many spectators at 11 a.m. Since then, it also rings every first Sunday of the month.
Represented on the weather vane, the English leopard recalls the arms of the province of English Guyenne of which Bordeaux was the capital.
The clock built in 1759 according to the plans of the mathematician and astronomer Paul Larroque replaced that of 1567 executed by Raymond Sudre. Above it is a sundial with solar equation."