Halle de Villeréal, Historic market hall in Villeréal, France
The halle de Villeréal is a medieval covered market hall on the main square of Villeréal, in the Lot-et-Garonne department of France. The building has an open oak timber frame resting on three rows of square piers, surrounding a central space.
Villeréal was founded in 1267 by Alphonse de Poitiers, and the hall has served as a market space since the 14th century. The current structure dates mainly from the 16th century but incorporates older parts from the two preceding centuries.
The hall stands on the main square of Villeréal and is easy to spot from any direction. It is a classified monument and can be viewed freely from the outside at any time.
The jurade, the body that governed the bastide and dispensed justice, met not at ground level but in the upper-floor room whose half-timbered and cob-filled walls are pierced by windows. The posts of the intermediate square of the frame carry those walls. A campanile once topped the hall and was removed in the 1960s.
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