Hautefort Castle

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Hautefort Castle is enthroned on a plateau and dominates the area
Northwest view of the castle

The Hautefort Castle ( French Château de Hautefort ) stands on a plateau in the north of the French Dordogne and towers over the village of Hautefort about 34 kilometers northeast of Périgeux . It is the largest baroque palace complex in southwest France and at the same time one of the most important castles in the Périgord . Located in the extreme east of the white Périgord ( French Périgord blanc ), the castle was classified as a Monument historique on October 31, 1958 . His French gardens and landscaped grounds are since December 31, 1967 also as a monument historique under monument protection .

history

Beginnings

Already in the 9th century there was a castle of the Vice Counts of Limoges on the site of the present castle . The place was already settled in Roman times . In 1030, the castle became the property of Guy de Lastours, after defeating the rebellious vice counts at Arnac on behalf of the Count of Périgord. After his death in 1046, his only daughter Aloaarz passed the property on to her husband Aymar der Laron, who took the name Lastours. With the marriage of Agnes de Lastours in 1160, the castle came to the family of her husband Constantin de Born. He quarreled with his brother, the troubadour Bertran de Born , about the complex, because the two belonged to the warring parties of the English princes Henry the Younger and Richard the Lionheart . It was concerned with Prince Heinrich, while Constantin belonged to Richard's camp. In 1182, Betran succeeded in driving Constantine from the castle, but the following year Richard the Lionheart besieged the complex after Heinrich's death and was able to take it after eight days. He had Betran captured and dragged the fortifications. However, the English King Henry II gave the troubadour freedom and gave him back his castle, which Betran rebuilt from 1184 onwards. In 1194/1196 the lord of the castle retired to the Cistercian monastery Dalon and became a monk . Hautefort was taken over by his son. At that time, the complex consisted of a large donjon and several small towers, which were connected with curtains and battlements .

War years

The male line of the de Born family died with Bertrand III. out. Heiress was his sister Marguerite, who had married Aymar de Faye in 1237 and brought him the castle of Hautefort. The new lord of the castle then took the name de Born and the title of Vice Count of Hautefort. During the Hundred Years' War , English soldiers occupied the castle in 1355, forcing the owners to recognize the English king as their liege lord , but in 1406 the complex came back under French rule. Before that, Bertrand, the last male representative of the family, had died and the property was inherited by Bertrand's only daughter Marthe. Her son Antoine from her second marriage to Hélie de Gontaut named himself after the Seigneurie Hautefort when he became the new lord of the castle.

The north-western entrance wing of the complex was  modified and fortified in 1588 - perhaps under the influence of the French Wars of Religion . It may have replaced a less fortified wing in the Renaissance style .

Conversion to a baroque palace

Jacques-François de Hautefort (contemporary portrait) completed the transformation into a castle that his grandfather had begun

In 1614, the Seigneurie was raised to Marquisate under François de Hautefort . Accordingly, he wanted to replace the outdated building with a representative castle. In 1633, the Marquis commissioned the architect Nicolas Rambourg , who came from Périgeux, with a large-scale renovation of the complex. When the client died in 1640, the work was far from over, and it was left to François' successor, his grandson Jacques-François, to continue the work. Jacques-François' sister Marie made as a platonic friend of Louis XIII. talked about at the royal court in Paris . The death of Nicolas Rambourg in 1649 put a temporary end to the building project, but in 1651 at least the inauguration of a castle chapel on the ground floor of the new lodging could be celebrated. In 1669 the marquis resumed the renovation work. He had won over the Parisian architect Jean Maigret . He completed the castle to a symmetrical three-wing complex in the classicist Baroque style by building the current south tower and relocating the chapel there in 1670 . Although the second marquis died in 1680, the work under Maigret continued until 1695. The defensive elements still existing at the beginning of the 17th century were gradually dismantled during the structural changes.

Revolutionary years and 19th century

During the French Revolution in 1792, the citizens of Hautefort prevented the castle from being destroyed by sans-culottes . Then the facility served as a prison from 1793 to 1795. After the revolutionary years, Sigismonde Charlotte Louise de Hautefort, daughter of the last Marquis Louis Frédéric Emmanuel, was allowed to dispose of the family seat again. On June 9, 1818, she married the Baron Ange Hyacinthe Maxence de Damas , who retired to Hautefort after his political career had ended. The writer Eugène Le Roy was born there in 1839 . His father was chamberlain to the baron, who commissioned the redesign of the palace gardens in 1853 . The designs for this were provided by one of the most famous landscape architects in France at the time , Paul de Lavenne , comte de Choulot. He redesigned the baroque gardens on the terraces around the palace and designed a large English landscape garden with broad lines of sight into the surrounding landscape. After the baron's death in 1862, his son inherited Maxence, who died in 1887. His second wife sold the complex in 1890 to the wealthy industrialist Bertrand Artigues, who carried out various repairs and had the old farm buildings to the northwest of the castle laid down. Nevertheless, the structure was not in good condition.

Restoration and reconstruction in the 20th century

South-east view of the castle from the garden ground floor restored in the 20th century

When Artigues died in 1908, his heirs sold the palace complex to a real estate speculator in 1913. He sold all of the furniture and interior fittings such as paneling and parquet floors until 1925, only to then sell the parceled land piece by piece. In 1929, Baron Henry de Bastard and his wife Simone, daughter of the banker and patron David David-Weill , bought the castle. They began lengthy restoration work in 1930 , which did not end until 1965. The couple not only restored the buildings inside and outside, but also had the baroque garden parterres restored according to old plans. The beds were replanted, but the Lavenne design was retained. The exception to this was the large esplanade in front of the north-western wing of the palace, where a broderie parterre and an arcade were built instead of the farm buildings that were demolished at the end of the 19th century.

The French Service des Beaux Arts stored its Alsatian collections in the castle between 1939 and 1947 to protect them from damage during the Second World War . After the baron's death in 1957, his widow opened the complex to the public in 1958, which was the fate of the buildings. The carelessly discarded cigarette butt of a visitor caused a major fire that devastated the main wing in the northeast, including the interior fittings and furniture, on the night of August 30th to 31st, 1968. Only the side wings with their round towers at the ends remained intact. The baroness did not hesitate and began the restoration in September of the same year. The work was estimated at seven million francs . The destroyed castle wing and the associated rooms were reconstructed true to the original based on old photographs and furnished again. When Simone de Damas died in 1999, she bequeathed the property to a foundation established in March 1990 and run by her nephew ( Fondation du château de Hautefort ).

Todays use

The palace complex, including the palace park and large parts of the French gardens, can now be visited for a fee. This also includes the interiors such as the large reception hall, the lord's bedroom, the Marie de Hauteforts room in Louis-quinze style and the castle chapel and the kitchen. During the summer, evening tours with skilled castle guides are offered once a week. There is also a small museum dedicated to the author Eugène Le Roy in the south-west tower of the castle. Another tower room commemorates the fire in 1968. Rooms can also be rented for events.

In the past, Hautefort Castle served as a film set and location for several films. Scenes from André Hunebelle's Knight of the Night , published in 1960, were filmed there, and two years later it was used as the setting for the film The Knight of Pardaillan . The black and white film Die Schwarze 13 from 1967 was also staged on the castle grounds . After the great fire in 1968, the facility could no longer be used as a film location for the time being; it can only be seen again in the 1978 film Molière with Philippe Caubère and Marie-Françoise Audollent . In A Demancipated Woman from 1985, the castle was used again as a film set before scenes for the film Forever and Forever with Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston were filmed in Hautefort.

description

The outer

Ground floor plan

Hautefort is a three-winged castle whose wings have a rectangular, by a stone balustrade enclosed courtyard surrounded. The central building is the three-storey logis, which takes up the entire north-east wing. It is joined at right angles by two lower side wings with large round towers at the ends. The architecture shows a mixture of styles from Renaissance and Classicist Baroque, which is due to the fact that the buildings were built according to the designs of two different architects. The slate-covered roofs are a uniform element of the castle . Although it was built in the Baroque era, the entire complex makes a much more austere impression than is otherwise the case with castles from the 17th century.

Nothing is left of the medieval structure of the 12th century. The oldest parts can be found today in the south-west tower, which is also called the Bretagne Tower ( French Tour de Bretagne ). Its foundation dates back to the 15th century. Its chestnut roof structure has a domed roof with a lantern at the end . The battlements , which are only partially preserved today, were accessible from this tower . Its counterpart at the end of the northeast wing looks the same, but dates entirely from the 17th century.

The entrance to the castle is on the northwest side, which also formed the main attack side because the castle plateau was otherwise protected by steep rocky slopes. Accordingly, the north-west wing of the castle is more heavily reinforced than the other wings. In front of him is a wide dry trench , over which a stone bridge leads. However, this does not bridge the entire moat, but its last section consists of a drawbridge . There is a large esplanade in front of the trench, so that possible attackers were seen early and could not find cover. The embossed main portal still shows medieval defensive elements and is flanked by two tourelles that rest on corbels .

Courtyard facade of the lodging

After the visitor has passed the arched portal with the coat of arms of the de Bastard family, he stands in the main courtyard of the castle. All wings of the building show arcades on the ground floor of the courtyard with rectangular openings in between. The one of the lodging is laid out as an open gallery . The floors above are separated from the gallery by a cornice . The cross - storey windows of the courtyard facade, closed off by triangular gables , were actually already out of fashion at the time of construction and probably originated from the designs of the first architect Nicolas Rambourg. The attic is equipped with portholes with arched gables . The gable of the central portico shows the coat of arms of the de Hautefort family. At the outward-facing corners of the Logis there are two massive pavilions that no longer have cross-frame windows and were probably built according to designs by the second architect Jean Maigret. A cordon cornice separates the individual floors on the facade. The one between the third and the top floor has a series of corbels as a reminiscence of the medieval defense architecture, but these have no battlements and there are no machicolations between them . The north exterior facade of the palace, including the corner pavilions, measures over 80 meters.

inside rooms

At the northern end of the gallery on the ground floor of the logis are the dining room and the adjoining Tappisseriensaal ( French Salle des tapisseries ). On its walls hang four tapestries from the 16th and 17th centuries from Enghien and Brussels , which were saved from the devastating fire of 1968. At the other end of the gallery, the grand staircase leads to the large apartments ( French: Grand apartments ) on the first floor . Flame vases are in the wall niches of the stairwell. The heart of the apartments is the so-called chimney room ( French Salle des cheminées ), a 21 × 14 meter reception and ballroom, which, with its height of seven meters, also occupies the attic above the piano nobile. It got its name because of its two large chimneys, whose carved panels are made of walnut wood . They are faithful reconstructions of chimneys from the 17th century, which were destroyed in the fire in 1968.

The palace chapel, which was built in 1670, is located in the south-eastern round tower. Because it survived the fire in 1968 unscathed, its furnishings are still original and have not been reconstructed. The furniture dates from the time of the restoration , while the silverware features pieces from the 16th to 18th centuries. The floor covering in the choir of the chapel shows as a motive the Fleur de Lys . The domed ceiling is a painting in trompe l'oeil technique, a coffered ceiling imitated. The retable of the altar has Corinthian columns with a semicircular gable. The design for this is said to come from Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine .

  • Gallery on the ground floor

  • Stairwell

  • Fireplace room

  • Trompe l'œil ceiling painting in the chapel

Castle park and gardens

Baroque garden

Ten gardeners are busy looking after the gardens and park of the castle all year round . The French gardens on the terraces south and east of the castle are particularly labor-intensive. A baroque garden was part of the complex as early as the 17th century, but today's parterres date from the 19th century and were replanted in the 20th century. They include broderie parterres planted with yew and boxwood , which also have trees cut into shape . Between the flowerbeds with their planting in geometric shapes, there are walking paths that are strewn with white gravel . The flower planting of the beds changes annually.

To the north-east of the castle and its esplanade there is a 30  hectare English landscape garden with an artificial lake. The oldest tree is a Lebanon cedar on the edge of the park. One of the special plants is also an evergreen magnolia .

literature

  • Jean-Pierre Babelon: Hautefort. Les étapes de la construction du chateau neuf. In: Congrès archéologique de France. 156ème session 1998. Société Française dʼArchéologie, Paris 1999, pp. 225–240.
  • Jean-Pierre Babelon (Ed.): François Rouan au Château de Hautefort. (= Connaissance des Arts. Special issue No. 155). Société Française de Promotion Artistique, Paris 2000, ISSN  1242-9198 .
  • Thorsten Droste : Périgord: Dordogne Valley and Query. The landscapes in the heart of south-west France. DuMont, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7701-4003-6 , pp. 244–245.
  • Claude Frégnac (ed.): Merveilles des châteaux de Languedoc et de Guyenne. Hachette, Paris 1967, pp. 52-57.
  • Ernest de Ganay: Châteaux de France. Regional Center and South. Tel, Paris 1950, pp. 19-20.
  • Bernard de Montgolfier: Dictionnaire des châteaux de France. Larousse, Paris 1969, pp. 135-137.
  • Richard Nourry, Claire Delbos: Châteaux dʼAquitaine. Nouvelles Editions de lʼUniversité, Paris 2012, ISBN 978-2-84768-324-0 , pp. 30–33.
  • Cathrin Rummel: France's most beautiful palaces and castles. 1st edition. Travel House Media, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-8342-8944-5 , pp. 300-301.
  • Jean Secret: Châteaux du Périgord. Volume 1. Nouvelles Éditions Latines , Paris undated, pp. 26-27.
  • Bernard de Soumagnat: Le château de Hautefort. Jesco, Hautefort 1970.
  • Paul Vitry: Le château de Hautefort. In: Congrès archéologique de France. 90ième session 1927. Société Française dʼArchéologie, Paris 1928, pp. 226–239.
  • Henri de Bastard: La restauration du château de Hautefort. In: Les monuments historiques de la France. No. 5, 1975, ISSN  0242-830X , pp. 11-15.
  • WH Ward: The Château d'Hautefort, Dordogne. The Seat of M. d'Artigues. In: Country Life . Vol. 41, No. 1044, January 6, 1917, pp. 12-17.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Hautefort  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b T. Droste: Périgord: Dordogne Valley and Query. The landscapes in the heart of south-west France. 1997, p. 244.
  2. ^ B. de Montgolfier: Dictionnaire des châteaux de France. 1969, p. 135.
  3. ↑ a b c Entry of the castle in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French), accessed on October 21, 2015.
  4. ↑ a b C. Rummel: France's most beautiful palaces and castles. 2012, p. 300.
  5. ^ A b E. de Ganay: Châteaux de France. Regional Center and South. 1950, p. 19
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Schloss Hautefort. In: Structurae (French), accessed October 21, 2015.
  7. ↑ a b Castle history on the castle website , accessed on October 21, 2015.
  8. ^ Jean de Foville, Auguste Le Sourd: Les châteaux de France. Hachette, Paris 1913, p. 110.
  9. ↑ a b c d e C. Frégnac: Merveilles des châteaux de Languedoc et de Guyenne. 1967, p. 55.
  10. ^ Jean de Foville, Auguste Le Sourd: Les châteaux de France. Hachette, Paris 1913, p. 111.
  11. ^ A b R. Nourry, C. Delbos: Châteaux dʼAquitaine. 2012, p. 31.
  12. ↑ a b c Description of the castle gardens and the park on the Comité des Parcs et Jardins de France website , accessed on October 21, 2015.
  13. ↑ Castle history on hautefort.com , accessed on October 21, 2015.
  14. ↑ The fire at Schloss Hautefort. In: Castles and Palaces . Journal for Castle Research and Monument Preservation Volume 11, No. 1, 1970, ISSN  0007-6201 , p. 24, doi: 10.11588 / bus.1970.1.42303 .
  15. ↑ News for archive and documentation. In: Castles and Palaces. Vol. 10, No. 2, 1969, ISSN  0007-6201 , pp. 62-64.
  16. ↑ a b c The fire at Schloss Hautefort. In: Castles and Palaces. Vol. 11, No. 1, 1970, ISSN  0007-6201 , p. 25.
  17. ↑ Dominique Audrerie: Connaître les châteaux du Périgord. Sud Ouest, Bordeaux 1997, ISBN 2-87901-225-2 , p. 23.
  18. ↑ List of films that were shot at Schloss Hautefort , accessed on October 22, 2015.
  19. ↑ C. Frégnac: Merveilles des châteaux de Languedoc et de Guyenne. 1967, p. 53.
  20. ↑ Information according to the online cadastral map of Hautefort on geoportail.gouv.fr
  21. ↑ a b c d Bertrand du Vignaud: Monuments de France. Chêne, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-85108-694-4 , p. 186.
  22. ↑ a b C. Rummel: France's most beautiful palaces and castles. 2012, p. 301.
  23. ^ A b R. Nourry, C. Delbos: Châteaux dʼAquitaine. 2012, p. 32.

Coordinates: 45 ° 15 ′ 35 ″  N , 1 ° 8 ′ 45 ″  E