Palais Jacques-Cœur

This late-Gothic mansion was built by the merchant and royal treasurer Jacques Cœur, one of the wealthiest men of fifteenth-century France, as a display of his fortune. Its façade is covered in playful carved detail, including false windows with sculpted servants peering out. Inside, painted ceilings and elaborate fireplaces survive from before its owner's dramatic fall from grace. A distinctive detail is the carved scallop shells and hearts, punning on the owner's name, that appear throughout the stonework as a personal signature.