3-039-019 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The City of Bordeaux, 1871. Franco-Prussian War. 'The large and wealthy city of Bordeaux, third in importance of the French seaports and capital of the department of the Gironde, has been the abode of the delegate French Government of National Defence since its removal from Tours, and is now the meeting-place of the National Assembly convened for the discussion of terms of peace...The view of the city, from the opposite bank of the river, has a very agreeable effect; the curving shore, in the form of a crescent, is lined with handsome buildings to the extent of two or three miles. The river is about 2000 ft. wide, and 18 ft. to 30 ft. deep, usually filled with shipping as far up as the magnificent bridge of seventeen stone arches, built fifty years ago, which is much longer than our Waterloo Bridge over the Thames. In the centre is the Cathedral of St. André, with its two elegant spires, built during the English reign; and close beside these spires is a third spire, that of the Tour de Peyberland, at the east end of the cathedral, a memorial of Pierre Berland, a Bishop of Bordeaux in the fifteenth century. The Church of St. Michel, with its fine hexagonal bell-tower, surmounted by a spire, is conspicuous to the left hand, near the river'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.