Square Dom Bedos, Park in central Bordeaux, France
Square Dom Bedos is a small public park in central Bordeaux, located between the school of fine arts, the music conservatory, and the church of Sainte-Croix. It has trees, lawns, benches, and walking paths, as well as an 18th-century fountain and sections of old city walls that are still visible today.
The ground on which the park stands was once part of Bordeaux's city walls, built in the 16th century and used for defense well into the following centuries. In 2006, the area was redesigned, while keeping the old walls and the fountain built by Benedictine monks in the 1730s.
The park sits next to the school of fine arts and the music conservatory, so on warm days you may hear students practicing nearby. The name honors Dom Bedos, a Benedictine monk who lived and worked in this part of Bordeaux in the 18th century.
The park is easy to reach on foot from the center of Bordeaux, close to the Sainte-Croix church and the surrounding streets. It is small enough to walk through in a few minutes, but worth slowing down near the old walls and the fountain.
The sections of wall visible in the park once had openings for archers and cannons, and you can still make out their shape if you look closely at the stone. The Benedictine monks who built the fountain in the 1730s used water from the same source for their nearby abbey.
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