Guided tour of the Episcopal City of Meaux
In the Middle Ages, the episcopal district of Meaux stretched from the north transept of Saint-Etienne Cathedral to the city walls. As its name suggests, this district was reserved for the bishop, the chapter of the canons of the cathedral and their lay or ecclesiastical entourage. The episcopal city still presents the physiognomy it had in the eighteenth century. However, various architectural elements, belonging to different historical periods, are included in the constitution of its buildings. The oldest elements date back to the second half of the 12th century (lower rooms of the episcopal palace). Until the French Revolution, the episcopal city of Meaux retained a religious function par excellence, an ecclesiastical district adjoining the secular city. This function continued during the 19th century. In 1905, however, the law on the separation of the Churches and the State transferred this historical patrimony to the State. In 1911, under the impetus of the mayor, Georges Lugol, the Municipality acquired the episcopal palace and its outbuildings (garden and ramparts), to renovate them and open them to the public. While the garden resumed the appearance it had at the time of Bossuet, the rooms of the palace rediscovered, some their architectural beauty of the twelfth century, others their beautiful proportions of the seventeenth or their grace of the eighteenth. The Meaux Municipal Museum, housed in the Episcopal Palace, opened in 1927. It bears the name of Bossuet in homage to the memory of the great prelate who lived there. Thus, since the beginning of the 20th century, the Episcopal city of Meaux has been destined for a cultural and heritage function. A function that is undoubtedly different from the past, but still closely linked to the rich history of our city and its heritage. The main architectural elements that make up the episcopal city are: the old chapter, the bishops' palace, and finally the Bossuet garden overlooked to the north by the garden of the ramparts.