The Place has retained its old world aspect. Sixteenth and seventeenth century houses, of which the most beautiful, No. 21, is a museum, form a fitting frame to the old church. [Illustration: BAR SEEN FROM THE ESPLANADE] _The museum is open to the public on Sundays, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and at any time to strangers to the town (gratuity)._ It contains collections of painting, sculpture, and natural history. Saint-Pierre is the oldest church in Bar-le-Duc. It was begun in the fourteenth century; the front, reproduced on p. 245, dates from the sixteenth century, with the exception of the quadrangular cupola surmounted by a lantern, which crowns the tower. This portion, which jars with the transitional Gothic of the rest of the edifice, was added in the seventeenth century. The plans for the right hand tower were never executed. [Illustration: THE OLD CASTLE SEEN FROM THE ESPLANADE] In the interior, in the right branch of the transept, is the masterpiece of the great Lorraine sculptor of the sixteenth century, Ligier-Richier, pupil of Michael Angelo. It is the funeral monument of René of Châlon, Prince of Orange, and is commonly known as "the Skeleton." [Illustration: ST. PETER'S CHURCH] René de Châlon, who was killed in 1544 at the siege of Saint-Dizier, is said to have expressed the wish to be impersonated on his tomb as he would be three years after his death. It was in order to conform to his wish that his widow, Louise of Lorraine, ordered Richier to execute the strikingly realistic monument seen in the photo below. The "Skeleton" was carved in stone, then placed in a bath of oil and wax which gave it the appearance of old ivory. Opposite the pulpit and suspended from the pillars in the nave, is a carving of Christ between the two thieves. This crucifixion-group dates from the sixteenth century and is in walnut wood, but has been repainted in modern times. It has sometimes been attributed to Ligier-Richier. In a chapel to the left of the choir there is kept a sixteenth century bas-relief representing St.-François d'Assises, patron saint of François Brûlé, rector of Saint-Pierre, between Saint Peter and Saint Max, Abbot of Chinon. In the right aisle there is a beautiful Renaissance chapel and the baptistry. _Motors descend again into the lower town by the same road taken in coming up._ Other secondary places of interest [Illustration: THE SKELETON] +Monument des Michaux+, at the corner of Rue Rousseau and Rue du Bourg, was erected in 1894. The two Michaux were the carriage-builders who invented the fitting of pedals to bicycles. +The+ "+Café des Oiseaux+," in the theatre in the Rue Rousseau, the hall of which is surrounded by glass cases containing more than 50,000 natural history specimens. +The Rue du Bourg+ is famous for its old Renaissance houses. +The Public Garden+ lies behind the town-hall. +The Church of Saint-Jean+ at the end of the Boulevard de la Rochelle was begun in 1882 in the Romanesque style.