Parc de Majolan
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View across the lake to the grotto
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Looking back from the grotto
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The Parc de Majolan ( Park of Majolan ) is the preserved part of the formerly much larger park of the Dulamon Castle.
Geographical location
The park now belongs to the municipality of Blanquefort , a suburb of Bordeaux, on the western edge of which it is located. It develops around an artificial lake. The formerly higher parts, which stretched up a slope in a northerly direction, where the castle also stands, are now partly built over, partly used differently and no longer recognizable as part of the park. The Jalle stream flows through the park from west to east.
history
In 1862 Joseph Prom bought the Dulamon winery in Blanquefort. After his death in 1871 it passed into the hands of his son-in-law, Gustave Piganeau, co-owner of the leading bank in neighboring Bordeaux . He had the existing manor house demolished and a country palace built in its place by the architect Jules Lafargue . When the surrounding park was designed is not known - probably in the first half of the 1870s. The responsible garden architect was Louis Lucy Le Breton . In 1896 , shortly before his death, the Société d'hoticulture awarded him a gold medal for the two parks he created at Dulamon / Majolan and Bourran . The site originally comprised around 80 hectares , there was a zoo , a model farm and a separate dance hall. All of this was in the northern part of the property and no longer exists. Between the upper and lower parts of the park was a slope that was mostly planted with vines.
Due to the topography, there was about 20 hectares of swampy terrain at the southern end of the property. In order to be able to design it as a park, the water had to be dealt with. A lake about 4 hectares in size was created with two islands of different sizes in it. The excavation was used to raise and drain part of the remaining area.
The Dulamon winery was owned by Gustave Piganeau until the end of the 19th century. When his bank got into financial difficulties in 1898, he shot himself. The entire domain - except for the castle - was parceled out and sold. The widow used the castle until the 1920s. Today it houses a private school. The municipality acquired the lower, relatively untouched part of the park in 1975 and renovated it extensively in 2007/2008.
description
investment
Due to the size of the lake, only a narrow strip of terrain remains on three sides up to the park boundary, which is just enough for a belt walk . Today the network of paths is very wide-meshed and arbitrarily cut off to the north, where the park ends and today the development begins. A number of smaller paths that, according to old planning documents, existed at the end of the 19th century no longer exist today.
grotto
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Great cavern of the grotto
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Ruins of the aquarium in the grotto
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On the north bank of the lake, the bank closest to the castle, there is a huge, multi-storey grotto . The main grotto opens out towards the lake like a cave. In front of it there is a pointed rock with a belvedere . Vaults spanning 10–12 m form the outer shell for the grotto. The labyrinthine corridor system, stalactites and stalagmites could then be designed relatively freely from reinforced concrete. 10 tons of reinforcing iron were used. 6000 m³ of quarry stone were used for the outer cladding of the construction. The system could be approached by boat from the sea and had two entrances on the land side, which were concealed in the "rock" and originally could only be opened via a hidden mechanism. The visitor reaches one entrance through a rocail garden , the other through a small valley.
Since the complex served private purposes and was not intended for larger public traffic, the corridors could be designed to be completely confusing, narrow and covered with protruding rocks. The narrow, dark corridors and stairs open suddenly into the large entrance cave or the central room. It had a central support and the walls consisted of aquariums - in terms of design a successor to the underground aquarium, which had made a big impression at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867 . The aquariums have been structurally preserved, but the panes have been broken off.
Staffage buildings
- The Pont du donjon at the southeast entrance to the park is a bridge, combined with a romantic ruin architecture that simulates the final stage of decay of a castle. The core of the structure is reinforced concrete, although it is designed with limestone on the outside .
- A second access of this kind, a combination of ruin and bridge, albeit not as spectacularly designed, is in the northeast corner of Park Majolan.
- A boat mooring on the southern edge of the lake is accessed by a sweeping two-flight staircase from the Beltwalk and framed by strong cement volutes into which colored pebbles are embedded.
Worth knowing
The complex is a cultural monument and entered on the French list of monuments.
The same architect, Jules Lafargue, built his country castle Bourran in Mérignac for Gustave Piganeau's brother, Léopold Piganeau .
literature
- Dominique Jai: Historique du Chateau Dulamon à Blanqufort . OO, 1984.
- Ferdinand Werner : A forgotten garden architect: Louis Lucy Le Breton and the palace gardens of Majolan and Bourran . In: Die Gartenkunst 2018/2, pp. 243–260.
Web links
- Parc Majolan on the Bordeaux Tourisme website .
- Parc Majolan on the Bordeaux & Vous website .
- Parc Majolan on the Blanquefort website.
Remarks
- ↑ The inside of the grotto is open to the public on Sundays.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Werner, p. 251.
- ↑ Werner, p. 243.
- ↑ Werner, p. 248.
- ↑ Werner, p. 251.
- ↑ Werner, p. 251.
- ↑ Werner, p. 257.
- ↑ Werner, p. 251.
- ↑ Werner, p. 253ff.
- ↑ Werner, p. 255.
- ↑ Werner, p. 257.
- ↑ Werner, p. 255.
- ↑ Werner, p. 256.
- ↑ Werner, p. 257.
- ↑ Werner, p. 256.
- ↑ Werner, p. 253.
- ↑ Werner, p. 252.
- ^ Entry of the park on the French list of monuments .