Guidebook with maps/step-by-step
1 - Hôtel de Clerjotte: This 15th-century dwelling is one of the few remaining examples of Renaissance art on the Ile de Ré. In 1627, during the siege of La Rochelle, it was used as an arsenal by the English. Transferred to the commune in 1955 by the estate administration, it now houses the Ernest Cognacq Museum.
2 - The Port was originally a trading port for the export of salt and wine, and later became one of the strong points in the island's defence. It remains one of the town's most attractive features, just as Vauban designed it.
3 - The convict's map: Painted by a convict during his imprisonment, this map today bears witness to Saint-Martin-de-Ré's past as the official repository for French convicts exiled to French Guiana between 1878 and 1938.
4 - The church: Over the centuries, this fortified church has undergone a great deal of destruction and renovation. In its current state, it comprises a four-bay nave with three aisles, flanked on the left by three side chapels, a wide transept and a choir.
5 - Maison de la Vinaterie: timber-framed house with red shutters dating from the 15th or 16th century. The ground floor was a stall opening onto the street where vinegar was sold to preserve food. At the beginning of the 20th century the originality of this house was accentuated by the painter Paul Natter, who had the shutters painted in the colours of his native Alsace and added decorative elements on the façade dedicated to vines and wine.
6 - Hôtel des Cadets Gentilshommes de la Marine and Place de la République: Built in the 18th century, it housed the Compagnie des Cadets de la Marine for the colonial army from 1779.
During the French Revolution, the building housed the municipal services, then various departments of the Navy, and later the administration of the civil hospices. Purchased in 1907 by Ernest Cognacq, a patron of the arts from Saint-Martin, the building became the Hôtel de Ville.
2 - The Port was originally a trading port for the export of salt and wine, and later became one of the strong points in the island's defence. It remains one of the town's most attractive features, just as Vauban designed it.
3 - The convict's map: Painted by a convict during his imprisonment, this map today bears witness to Saint-Martin-de-Ré's past as the official repository for French convicts exiled to French Guiana between 1878 and 1938.
4 - The church: Over the centuries, this fortified church has undergone a great deal of destruction and renovation. In its current state, it comprises a four-bay nave with three aisles, flanked on the left by three side chapels, a wide transept and a choir.
5 - Maison de la Vinaterie: timber-framed house with red shutters dating from the 15th or 16th century. The ground floor was a stall opening onto the street where vinegar was sold to preserve food. At the beginning of the 20th century the originality of this house was accentuated by the painter Paul Natter, who had the shutters painted in the colours of his native Alsace and added decorative elements on the façade dedicated to vines and wine.
6 - Hôtel des Cadets Gentilshommes de la Marine and Place de la République: Built in the 18th century, it housed the Compagnie des Cadets de la Marine for the colonial army from 1779.
During the French Revolution, the building housed the municipal services, then various departments of the Navy, and later the administration of the civil hospices. Purchased in 1907 by Ernest Cognacq, a patron of the arts from Saint-Martin, the building became the Hôtel de Ville.
