The towers, the Old Port & the old town

The three towers of the Old Port

For centuries the Saint-Nicolas Tower and the Chain Tower closed the harbour like a gate: a chain stretched between them barred the entrance at night. A little further west, the Lantern Tower watched over the sea and guided ships in. The three towers are national monuments managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux, with a single ticket for the towers that are open.

Saint-Nicolas Tower

The tallest of the three, the Saint-Nicolas Tower rises 37 m on the east side of the harbour mouth. Built of limestone ashlar in the 14th century, it is a true fortified keep: round in plan but given a pentagonal outline by its turrets, with walls 3 to 6 m thick and Gothic rooms, several of them rib-vaulted. The harbour chain was fixed here. The tower leans visibly: it tilts to the east by more than 20 cm.

Chain Tower

Facing it, the Chain Tower takes its name from the chain that was worked from here and fixed in the Saint-Nicolas Tower on the other bank. The great tower was built at the end of the 14th century — between 1378 and 1390, depending on the source. It was 34 m high originally, against 20 m today, with a diameter of 16 m and walls 3.5 m thick. A small companion tower held the capstan that tightened the chain; it was demolished in 1824 to widen the harbour entrance.

The tower later served as the governor’s residence (from 1472), as a prison and, at the end of the 1560s, as an arsenal; its powder store blew up in 1651, during the Fronde. Its upper floors host exhibitions on the town’s Huguenot past and on the emigrants who left La Rochelle for New France.

Lantern Tower

The Lantern Tower was begun in 1445 and finished in 1468, paid for by the mayor Jehan Mérichon, around an older tower. It is 55 m high: a cylindrical base 25 m tall and over 15 m across, crowned by an octagonal spire pierced with Flamboyant Gothic trefoil windows, with a gallery at 38 m. Its lantern turret served as a lighthouse and a landmark for sailors — hence the name.

From the 17th to the 19th century it was a prison for English, Spanish and Dutch sailors, whose carved graffiti still cover the walls — among them a ship entering the Old Port, carved in 1872. In 1822 two of the “Four Sergeants of La Rochelle” were held here before their execution in Paris. When the town walls were razed in 1629 the tower was spared; it was restored between 1900 and 1914, and again in 2014–2015.

The Old Port and the old town

Old Port

The Old Port was dug from the 13th century onwards, replacing an earlier harbour that had silted up. Its quays were built between 1786 and 1856; the wet dock (bassin à flot) begun in 1778 came into service in 1808, and the trawler basin, today home to the Maritime Museum, was dug in 1862.

The fishing fleet left in 1994 for the new fishing port of Chef de Baie, and the Old Port became a marina, lined with café and restaurant terraces along the Quai Duperré and the Cours des Dames. Excursion boats to Île d’Aix, Fort Boyard and Île de Ré leave from here.

Boat trips from the Old Port →   Maritime Museum →

Great Clock Gate

Between the quay and the old town stands the Grosse-Horloge, a former town gate of the 12th–13th century. It became a belfry in 1478; in 1672 its two passages were merged into a single arch, and in 1746 it received its Louis XV-style upper part with the clock. Its arch leads from the Old Port into the old town.

Town Hall

The Renaissance town hall stands behind a Flamboyant Gothic wall of the late 15th century, like a small fortress in the old town. Listed as a historic monument in 1861 and restored by Juste Lisch in the 1870s, it was gutted by fire on 28 June 2013; after six years of restoration it reopened in December 2019. The courtyard is free to enter; the interior is shown on guided tours.

History, fire of 2013 and guided tours →

Saint-Louis Cathedral

The classical Saint-Louis Cathedral was designed by Jacques V Gabriel, who died before the first stone was blessed on 18 June 1742; his son Jacques-Ange Gabriel followed the work. Building stopped for lack of money in 1750 and resumed in 1773; the cathedral was consecrated on 27 June 1784 and completed only in September 1857 — the two towers of the original plan were never built.

Beside it stands the Gothic bell tower of the former Saint-Barthélemy church (14th–15th century), which holds the cathedral’s bells and is closed to visitors. Inside, the dome of the Lady Chapel is painted by William Bouguereau: six scenes from the life of the Virgin around an Assumption dated 1875.

Rue du Palais and arcades

From the Grosse-Horloge, the Rue du Palais runs into the heart of the old town under its arcades, lined with old houses and with the neoclassical Palais de Justice of 1789. The arcades continue in the neighbouring Rue Chaudrier.

Saint-Nicolas quarter

On the other side of the Old Port, along the wet dock and the Gabut, the Saint-Nicolas quarter is a former fishermen’s district. Its narrow streets now hold small shops, restaurants, second-hand booksellers and art galleries around the Place de la Fourche, shaded by a large tree. Quiet by day, it fills up in the evening with students and sailors.

Sources: tours-la-rochelle.fr (hours, prices, works) · Wikipedia (Tour Saint-Nicolas) · Wikipedia (Tour de la Chaîne) · Wikipedia (Tour de la Lanterne) · Wikipedia (Vieux-Port) · Routard (Grosse-Horloge) · Wikipedia (Hôtel de Ville) · Wikipedia (Cathédrale Saint-Louis) · Cityzeum (Rue du Palais) · Cityzeum (Saint-Nicolas quarter). Checked 14 October 2026.