Castello Sarriod de la Tour
| Castello Sarriod de la Tour | ||
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 Castello Sarriod de la Tour |
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| Creation time : | 13th Century | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | well preserved | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone , partially plastered | |
| Place: | Saint-Pierre | |
| Geographical location | 45 ° 42 '22 " N , 7 ° 13' 30.7" E | |
| Height: | 658 m slm | |
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The Castello Sarriod de La Tour is a medieval low castle in the municipality of Saint-Pierre in the Aosta Valley . It is located in a flat area along the Dora Baltea and the SS26 state road , which is planted with orchards, on the opposite side of the settlement at the more famous Castello di Saint-Pierre .
history
The castle, which belonged to the Sarriod de la Tour family until the beginning of the 20th century , is now a complex of buildings from different eras, which are close to one another and protected by a surrounding wall .
On the old donjon in the middle with a square floor plan, which certainly dates from the first years of the 14th century, various structures were actually added over the centuries due to the extensions and renovations of the living area.
The oldest complex of the castle was built on the typical model of the simple castles of the Aosta Valley, consisting of a tower in the middle, which represented the keep of the castle, surrounded by a wall. The keep of the Sarriod de la Tour family is in the middle between the older towers with a predominantly defensive function, such as those of the Castello di Cly , the Castello di Graines or the Castello di Saint-Germain , and the larger and more convenient towers of those immediately following Era that served more of the residential function, such as the Torre Colin in Villeneuve or the Tour des Cours in La Salle .
At the same time as the donjon, the chapel was probably built, which is located a little south of the surrounding wall near the cliff with a view of the Dora Baltea and whose dating to the middle of the 13th century allowed some dendrological investigations. The walls of the chapel were decorated with frescoes , some fragments of which can still be seen today.
In 1420 the brothers Yblet and Jean de Sarriod divided their estates into two different lordships, as a result of which the family was divided into the branches Sarriod d'Introd , based in the Castello di Introd and Sarriod de la Tour , who owned the castle, which got its name has been. Jean de Sarriod then had the existing tower called "Turris Sariodorum" enlarged by adding a number of structures and transformed into a castle with a representative function. The work that Jean de Sarriod had carried out also includes the spiral staircase in the southeast of the tower and the insertion of the cross windows, typical of the 15th century in the Aosta Valley, in the donjon.
A second large work campaign was carried out around 1470 by Antoine de Sarriod de la Tour , son of Jean de Sarriod . He had the chapel rebuilt and frescoed, the building expanded in the north and the outer perimeter wall rebuilt by adding defense towers.
In the following centuries, other buildings and structures were added, such as the pigeon house tower in the 16th century, which gave the manor house its current, irregular and disorganized appearance, but which also has a lot of charm. The castle remained in the possession of the Sarriod de la Tour family until 1921 ; that year the last descendant of the family died. Then the property fell to Senator Bensa from Genoa and in 1970 it came into the hands of the regional administration, which opened it to the general public in 2003.
description
Viewed from above, from the Castello di Saint-Pierre, the Castello Sarriod de la Tour appears as an irregular collection of buildings, surrounded by a ring of walls and on a flat site, a little outside the inhabited center near the Dora Baltea.
If you go to the right side of the river, you can see that the location of the castle is not entirely without any natural defenses, and that the southeast side rests on a rock spur overlooking the Dora Baltea.
To get into the castle, you first have to overcome the outer wall. The original enclosure wall from the 14th century was heavily modified during the work carried out around 1470 on behalf of Antoine de Sarriod de la Tour : The walls were equipped with defense towers with a round cross-section and a new entrance was opened on the east side, the strategically better guarded. The new entrance, which is still in use today, consists of an elegant portal with a pointed arch , above which the coat of arms of the Sarriod de la Tour is mounted, surmounted by a crenellated machicolation supported by a double console ring.
Inside, the most remarkable buildings are the massive donjon with its cross windows, the chapel and the so-called “Hall of Heads”.
Originally one of the oldest buildings in the castle, the chapel on the south side of the castle has been rebuilt several times over the centuries. The original complex probably had a wooden ceiling, the remains of which are dated to around 1250; some fragments of an old cycle of paintings from the same period showing religious episodes such as the Adoration of the Magi, the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the Crucifixion are still visible on three walls. The chapel is now dominated by a baroque vault , which was added in 1700 and divides the old frescoes in the middle. The old entrance to the chapel, on the other hand , was decorated between 1478 and 1483, during the work initiated by Antoine de Sarriod de la Tour . He had the chapel consecrated to the Virgin Mary and the Evangelist John. There you can still find two well-preserved paintings depicting the crucifixions of Christ and St. Christopher .
The “Hall of Heads”, which is on the first floor of the north wing, was the castle's showroom and was named after the decoration of the wooden ceiling, supported by a series of carved consoles , dating from the 15th century. There are a total of 171 carved consoles, on which many different themes are depicted, from faces of noble ladies and gentlemen with headdresses according to the latest fashion of the time to carnival figures, from native forest animals such as dogs, ducks, wolves and wild boars to fantastic ones Creatures including the mermaid, the unicorn, the dragon and a number of monsters of devilish appearance.
Works of art
As already mentioned, some of the most interesting elements of the castle are the works of art that are preserved there and span a time span from the middle of the 13th century to the end of the 15th century. The oldest frescoes can be found in the chapel of the castle, which is built into the ground floor of the south tower and whose walls were completely covered with frescoes around 1250. This is a cycle of pictures that has only recently been brought to light and is shown - albeit in a rather fragmentary way - on three walls of the chapel, above and below the arch that was retracted in the 18th century, appearing lower than the original nave allow; the “knocking” that was carried out during the construction of the vault so that the plaster would better adhere to the walls, left the lower frescoes in a precarious state; the frescoes above the vault are better preserved. In the room under the arch one can see an “Adoration of the Magi” (with a Madonna on the throne, based on the old iconography “Sedes Sapientiae”) and in the soffits of a window two “figures of saints” (the right one is Magdalena), and including figures that are modeled on medieval beasts: two mermaids with forked tails and the unusual depiction of a “talking cricket”, reminiscent of a blemmy . The fragments of a crucifixion scene can be seen above the arch; the upper part of the “Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem” and the “heads of the four saints” (perhaps also fragments of the “Last Supper”); furthermore fragments with the “ tool of suffering ” and a picture of the “inferno”. The cycle represents one of the rare examples of early Gothic painting in the Aosta Valley. The unknown painter of the frescoes, usually called "Maestro di Saint-Pierre", probably belongs to the same studio that created the contemporary frescoes of the "Chiesa Antica di Santa Maria" in Villeneuve .
On a fourth wall of the chapel, which was most likely rebuilt in the first decades of the 15th century, the remains of a fresco with the "Archangel Michael and Saint Margerita" can be seen above the baroque arch; the author is a painter from the area around Ivrea , who was dubiously referred to as "Giacomino da Ivrea".
Further frescoes, which can be dated to around 1478, were carried out at the instigation of Antoine de Sarriod de la Tour in the room that leads to the castle chapel, after he had decided to have the old chapel rededicated. There are two high-quality images on which a "crucifixion" with a Christ can be seen, who pathetically recalls the wooden sculptures from churches in the Aosta Valley, and a "Saint Christopher" with a suffering face, who drives on something impressive, which seems like an alpine lake populated by a great variety of fish while the child holds on to his hair tenderly. The two frescoes are the work of an unknown artist who has been given the name "Maître d'Antoine de Sarriod de la Tour" and who moves around this Franco-Piedmontese school, which is characterized by the efforts to speak the language of Assimilate Flemish painting, including in the course of the paintings that arrived in Chieri from the first half of the 15th century .
In the main saloon of the castle, which is on the first floor of the north wing, you can see a valuable carving that is interesting for the history of wooden sculptures in the Aosta Valley. It is the ceiling of the salon with a series of carved consoles with figures of different shapes that adorn the intersection of the beams: this explains the name “Hall of Heads” that was given to the room. There are a total of 171 carved figures depicting an overwhelming variety of themes: faces of noble ladies and gentlemen with headdresses in the latest fashion alternate with grotesque carnival figures and fantastic creatures that may be derived from medieval beasts.
It was found that:
"Tra le sculture affiora un gusto che si spinge ai limiti del grottesco e che, nell'infinito senso combinatorio di elementi umani ed animali non può non evocare l'opera visionaria di Hieronymus Bosch " (German: a taste emerges among the characters, who goes to the limits of the grotesque, and that one can recognize the visionary work of Hieronymus Bosch in the infinite sense of combination of human and animal elements)
The ceiling was created around 1432; one can recognize the work of two different carvers, of which at least one - the one who prefers figures with pronounced physiognomic features - reminds us of the carvings - especially in the "Graces" - which were made in the second half of the 15th century in the Choir stalls of the Cathedral of Aosta were created. It is believed that Jean de Chetro , a carver from the Aosta Valley who worked in the cathedral, completed his training in the same workshop that created the “Hall of Heads”.
"Fragmenta picta"
When it was opened to the general public in 2003, an exhibition called “Fragmenta picta” was set up inside, collecting old fragments of paintings found during the excavations at Quart Castle. The visit to the castle therefore follows the course of the exhibition.
Individual references and comments
- ↑ Il castello Sarriod de La Tour . Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
- ^ E. Rossetti Brezzi (editor): Fragmenta picta - Testimonianze pittoriche del castello di Quart . Secoli XIII-XVI . Tipografia Valdostana, Aosta 2003. pp. 32-33.
- ↑ a b Castello Sarriod de La Tour (St. Pierre) - i migliori consigli prima di partire . TripAdvisor. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
- ↑ E. Rossetti Brezzi defines it as late Romanesque .
- ^ E. Rossetti Brezzi: La pittura in Valle d'Aosta tra la fine del 1300 e il primo quarto del 1500 . 1989, Casa Editrice Le Lettere, Florence 1989. p. 33.
- ↑ You can recognize laughing fools, the fuck-my-ass, the wild man and others.
- ^ E. Rossetti Brezzi (editor): Fragmenta picta - Testimonianze pittoriche del castello di Quart . Secoli XIII-XVI . Tipografia Valdostana, Aosta 2003. pp. 34-35.
- ^ E. Rossetti Brezzi (editor): Fragmenta picta - Testimonianze pittoriche del castello di Quart . Secoli XIII-XVI . Tipografia Valdostana, Aosta 2003. p. 34.
swell
- Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 . P. 50.
- André Zanotto: Castelli valdostani . Musumeci, Quart (1980) 2002. ISBN 88-7032-049-9 .
- Carlo Nigra: Torri e castelli e case forti del Piemonte dal 1000 al secolo XVI. La Valle d'Aosta . Musumeci, Quart 1974. pp. 80-82.
- Francesco Corni: Valle d'Aosta medievale . Tipografia Testolin, Sarre 2005.
