Cahors from the Renaissance to the classical age

After the ravages of the Hundred Years War, the population of Cahors was diminished and the city lost its economic importance. Around the year 1500 an original school of sculpture began to carve roses and batons on a chapel of the cathedral and several town houses which can be seen to this day. In the sixteenth century, the capital of Quercy managed to retain its prestige in the intellectual field, thanks to the University, colleges and the presence of several printers. Cahors is also the birthplace of the humanist poets Clément Marot and Olivier de Magny. Despite the accession of Galiot Genouillace, Lord of Assier and Grand Master of the Artillery of King Francis I to the status of Seneschal of Quercy, the Renaissance left few traces in the city: only one house in rue Bergougnoux and the archdeaconry of Saint-Jean show the abundant decoration of the period.

In the seventeenth century Cahors experienced a new religious development with the Counter-Reformation, orchestrated by Bishop Alain de Solminihac, who restored his diocese and founded a seminary. The Administrations of the Court of Aides and the Court of the Elected attracted men of the law, with their staff and workers, who altered the medieval houses they occupied to the taste of the day: beautiful carved doors, windows and roofs called mirandes, and straight flights of stairs are the result. At the initiative of the steward Guyenne Pellot the 17th century also saw the river equipped with its first locks, greatly facilitating the transportation of goods.

In 1751 the University of Cahors was moved to Toulouse. Little evidence of the architecture of the Enlightenment has reached us, except for many beautiful staircases with wrought iron fretwork cages.