The Hôtel-de-Ville, in which the Museum was installed, was built in
the sixteenth century, but was restored and enlarged in the eighteenth
century.
Of its Renaissance west front, facing the Grande Place, only the lower
part--in ruins--remains, forming a porch with balcony _(photos, p.
103)_.
The carved salamanders which ornamented it were smashed with blows from
hammers.
Two of the arcades of the porch collapsed in 1918 _(see second photo on
p. 103)_.
The Louis XVI. south front, facing the Rue Saint-Sauveur, was less
damaged _(photo below)_.
[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE.
_The front facing the Rue Saint-Sauveur._]
The roof and the modern belfry which surmounted the building were
blown up in 1917. An unexploded bomb with connecting wires was found
in the broken frame-work, fixed to a beam. Before evacuating the town,
the Germans fixed a large wooden board on the west front, bearing the
following inscription: _Nicht ärger, nur wundern_ (Don't be angry, only
admire).
The roof fell in, breaking the ceiling of the rooms in which the Museum
and Library were installed. Some statues were decapitated, and other
works of art mutilated. Books, manuscripts, documents and municipal
records were destroyed by the rain which fell through the gaping
ceilings.
However, the most valuable works in the Museum were saved, as they had
been carried off to Germany. A few famous paintings may be mentioned,
including, "_The Attack of the Railway Station at Strying_," an episode
in the battle of Forbach (Alphonse Neuville), another by the same
artist, "_Hunting in St. Pierre-Vaast Wood_," in which De Neuville is
shown surrounded by the notables of Péronne; and a painting attributed
to Breughel Junior, representing a _Conference at the house of an
attorney, at Cambrai_; objects connected with the local history, an
important collection of numismatics, and Gallic, Gallo-Roman and
Merovingian antiquities were among the collection.
[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE BEFORE THE WAR.
_The Renaissance Façade overlooking the Grande Place, and modern
Belfry. On the right: The Rue Saint-Sauveur._]
Before the war an old fifteenth century house with statues stood in
the Grande Place, at the corner of the Rue du Vert Muguet, near the
Hôtel-de-Ville.
[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE IN 1917.
_Note the German inscription on the ruined building which the enemy had
deliberately blown up. (See text.)_]
In the Place du Marché-aux-Herbes which adjoins the Grande Place stood
a statue of Catherine de Poix, known as Marie Fouché, the heroine of
the siege of 1536. This statue--like that of General Faidherbe at
Bapaume--was stolen by the Germans during the first occupation of the
town. When the 1st Warwickshire Regiment entered Péronne on March 17,
1917, they found a grotesque dummy figure on the pedestal _(photo, p.
105)_.
[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE PLACE DU MARCHÉ-AUX-HERBES BEFORE THE WAR.
_In the background, on the right: Rue St. Fursy and the old house seen
in the photograph on p. 75. In the background: Statue of Catherine de
Poix, heroine of the Siege of 1536._]
_At the end of the Place, near the entrance to the Rue St. Fursy_,
a late fifteenth century wood-panelled house _(photo, p. 105)_,
ornamented with curious statues of saints and bishops, was burnt down.
[Illustration: THE PLACE DU MARCHÉ-AUX-HERBES IN 1919.
_In the foreground: Pedestal of Statue (see above) carried off by the
Germans._]
[Illustration: PÉRONNE. THE PLACE DU MARCHÉ-AUX-HERBES BEFORE THE WAR.
_Seen from the Rue St. Fursy. The 15th Century wooden house on the
right, in the foreground, was burnt down. In the background: Church of
St. Jean._]
There is a fine charcoal drawing of it by Alphonse de Neuville in the
Museum.
_On the other side of the Grande Place, at the entrance to the Rue St.
Jean, stands the =St. Jean Church= (Hist. Mon.)_, in fifteenth century
flamboyant style, with three naves terminated by a rectangular apse,
to-day in ruins.