Place des Corps Saints

Cardinal Pierre de Luxembourg, having wished to be buried in the cemetery for the poor, known as Saint-Michel, Clement VII and Marie de Blois, Countess of Provence, had his tomb protected by a small wooden chapel. But Charles VI, who was related to the Luxembourgs, decided to build, from 1389, a church entrusted to the Celestines to house the relics of his illustrious relative.

From then on, the place, where a crowd of pilgrims gathered, became known as the "Place du Corps-Saint" (Square of the Holy Body). It was accessible through a gate in the old 13th-century wall, known as the Pont-Fract Gate. This gate, also known as the Porte Saint-Michel (Saint Michael's Gate), had to be enlarged by decision of the City Council in 1738. In 1674, the transfer of the relics of Saint Bénézet, removed from the chapel on the bridge which was then falling into ruin, to the Celestines church, led to the name becoming plural, and it is from this time that the square has been renamed "Place des Corps-Saints" (Square of the Holy Bodies).