Aiguines Castle

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Aiguines Castle, view from the northeast

The Aiguines Castle is a castle in the style of the Renaissance at the edge of the Provencal village of Aiguines in the French region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur . It is privately owned and cannot be visited. In the immediate vicinity, southeast of it, is the Saint-Jean church. The castle is a 1993 monument historique heritage protected . Some parts of its interior have been a listed building since 1947.

history

Already in the Middle Ages a castle has been handed down for the place , which was called "castrum de Aquina". In the 11th century the castle and town belonged to the Abbey of Saint-Victor de Marseille . Later, the complex was the center of an independent seigneury that was successively in the hands of the Baux, Sabran and Gauthier families. César de Sabran preferred to live at Chantereine Castle and sold his rights to Aiguines because he had no descendants to Joseph de Gautier.

His descendant, Balthazar de Gauthier, had the 13th-century complex redesigned in 1606 into a palace in the Renaissance style, which, however, still has its medieval roots. By the end of the century, times had become more peaceful, and Balthazar's descendants had the trenches that had become useless filled in and window openings broken into the outer walls of the complex. Further changes followed from 1720 onwards, by adding ancillary buildings to the palace and redesigning part of the palace grounds into a 1.5 hectare esplanade . At around the same time, the then owner Joseph de Gauthier laid out terraced gardens in the Italian style . As evidenced by a date carved in stone, the work was finished in 1743.

During the French Revolution , the castle was confiscated and declared national property. This was acquired by the Duke of Blacas in 1815. It came from his descendants to the de Foresta family, who sold the approximately 20  hectare property in 1989. The new owners had it restored for three years. In 2011 the French ex-soccer player Francis Camerini bought the castle. It has been on sale for 16 million euros since the end of August 2017.

description

View of the castle from the northwest

The mighty manor consists of a square central building with a floor area of ​​3300 square meters. At its corners are four round towers , the conical roofs of which are covered with colorful roof tiles. Its arched portal , decorated with foliage and fruits, is crowned by a gable and shows the year of construction 1606.

A dining room has been preserved inside the castle, the paneling of which is decorated with gilded stucco from the 18th century. The large internal staircase with its wrought iron railing also dates from that time. Both parts have been a listed building since December 27, 1947.

The castle garden with four fountains (one of which dates from 1770) consists of three terraces, which used to be part of the parterres with box trees , an orchard and an orangery . A double staircase leads from the middle terrace on the west side of the castle to the lowest terrace. This is bordered by a wall, the western corners of which are marked by round towers with conical roofs. The castle domain also includes olive trees and vineyards.

literature

  • Michel de La Torre: Le Guide des châteaux de France. Provence, French Riviera. Hermé, Paris 1987, ISBN 2-86665-065-4 , p. 17.
  • Serge Panarotto: Châteaux de Provence. Édisud, Aix-en-Provence 2003, ISBN 2-7449-0353-1 , p. 83.

Web links

Commons : Aiguines Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Entry of the palace complex in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  2. ↑ Information about the castle on provence7.com , accessed on August 30, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Castle history on chateau-aiguines.com ( Memento from October 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Brief information on the castle from the Aiguines Tourist Office , accessed August 30, 2017.
  5. ^ Aiguines Castle on a community website , accessed August 30, 2017.
  6. ↑ tourtour.village.free.fr , accessed on August 30, 2017.
  7. ↑ Sales advertisement on topannonces.fr ( Memento of September 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive ).
  8. ↑ Information page on Lac de Sainte-Croix , accessed on August 30, 2017
  9. ↑ a b Entry of the paneling in the Base Palissy of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  10. ↑ a b Entry of the stairs in the Base Palissy of the French Ministry of Culture (French)

Coordinates: 43 ° 46 ′ 24.8 "  N , 6 ° 14 ′ 28.2"  E