On Paris: Tour Jean-sans-Peur

I quite like Medieval things, so the other day I visited the Tour Jean-sans-Peur, a stair tower with little halls built in the early fifteenth century. It is the last surviving remnant of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, which was the enormous residence of the ducs de Bourgogne. One of these dukes, Jean-sans-Peur, assassinated his cousin and rival, and a few years later Fearless John built this mainly symbolic (rather than military) tower as he consolidated his power.

The tower is now next to a school courtyard with a little garden of its own in front.

The winding stone staircase.

This curious open-air "room" next to the staircase seems to just be a void under the vault supporting the rooms above. You could say such a "waste of space" shows how the tower was partly rhetorical, since the duke clearly wanted to build as high up as possible (I'm sure the view was very important to him, too).

Here's the amazing vault at the top of the staircase. It's carved as an oak tree with a hop vine climbing up it, and hawthorn branches from the walls meeting the oak branches. All three plants were symbolic of the House of Bourgogne.

Another little staircase leads up to the little halls at the top of the tower.

This is the oldest latrine in Paris. It's been faithfully restored. Except there would possibly not have been a mirror in the latrine opening.

This is a re-created Medieval-style bench, with a backrest that could shift back and forth so a sitter could alternate between facing and turning away from the fireplace.