Angers Castle

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Angers Castle - enclosing wall with the Porte de Ville

The Castle Angers is on the river Maine , near the confluence of the Maine and Loire . Angers is today the capital of the department of Maine-et-Loire in the region of Pays de la Loire ; it was the ancient capital of Angevin .

King Ludwig IX's castle

As early as Roman times, a fortress stood on the rugged cliff above the Maine Valley. The Counts of Anjou also built their residence here because of the strategic advantages. After Anjou became part of the Kingdom of France at the end of the 12th century, Angers developed into a regional capital. At the beginning of the 13th century, the Duke of Brittany, Pierre de Dreux, began the authority of Louis IX. , the saint, and conquered the city, which soon fell back to the crown. As a result, the king tried to turn Angers into a bastion that could defy the Bretons. To this end, around 1230, inspired by the regent Blanka of Castile , he built the mighty citadel around the former count's palace as a camp for the royal armies. However, since there was no armed conflict with the neighbors, the huge walls finally enclosed an area that primarily provided space for palaces built later. In 1246, Ludwig transferred the building including the county to his brother Karl.

Outwardly, the fortress of Louis the Holy impresses with the weight of its 17 towers and its defensive wall. Inside the fortress, the castle surprises with elegant buildings and gardens. The fortress occupies an area of ​​over 20,000 m². The towers made of dark slate and light tuff are 30 meters high and equipped with loopholes on three or four floors . Traditionally, the great royal palace had two gates, one facing the city and the Porte des Champs leading out of the city; today only the Porte de la Ville remains . The gates were secured with double portcullis . There are murder holes or machicolations above the gates .

The castle of the Dukes of Anjou

Châtelet - entrance to the stately living area
Royal residential wing with adjoining chapel

With Philip VI. As King of France, the Valois line came to the throne in 1328, and at the same time the Anjou was reunited with the crown. King John II raised it to a duchy and gave it to his second son, who, as Ludwig I, became King of Naples in 1382 and the progenitor of the fourth house of Anjou. The duchy now belonged to the kings of Naples until it was owned by Louis XI in 1480 after the death of René II . was in fact taken into possession and forever united with the French crown.

After the Peace of Brétigny , France survived the plague and war in 1365, and an astonishing economic boom began in the time of Charles V. As a result, the princes allowed a new art and architecture to blossom, which culminated in the construction of several new palaces. During this time, under the Argevin dukes Ludwig I and Ludwig II and King René, a colorful court life developed in Angers Castle. Numerous stays in Naples influenced the way of life as well as the artistic and architectural design.

The Châtelet, with its picturesque corner turrets crowned by pointed roofs, dates from the time of René and forms the entrance portal to the manorial residence. In the inner courtyard are the royal living quarters and the chapel built by Ludwig II and his wife Jolanthe von Aragón . The royal residence is the only remnant of the residential buildings built in the 14th century. The single-nave chapel dates from around 1410 and is characterized by the size and the Anjou vault. In 1450, René von Anjou had a gallery added to the royal residence, the facade of which was subdivided by three buttresses and broken up by framed windows. René was able to attend the festivities in the courtyard from the window.

There is still a wall of the great hall of the Count's palace in the rear part of the inner courtyard. The hall, which is more than 1000 years old, represented the core of the building, which was the residence of the Counts of Anjou from the 9th to 11th centuries. Later, the hall was repeatedly adapted to the taste of the respective era. The large wall with the four large six-part windows only gives an idea of ​​the splendor that the hall must have exuded at the time of the Dukes of Anjou. In the Middle Ages, a “large hall” was a preferred location for official events of the prince or liege lord. It served as a banquet, court, assembly or ballroom as required. It was heated by a 5.40 meter wide open fireplace, which is located on the left front wall.

Against the background of the wars of religion and the city's aspirations for autonomy, the defensive purpose of the complex came to the fore again at the end of the 16th century. On the orders of Henry III. the roofs of the towers were removed to serve as positions for modern artillery. The walls were also removed in the event of an attack.

Gallery of the Apocalypse

Tapestries in the Apocalypse Gallery
Tapestries in the Apocalypse Gallery

A special work of art is exhibited in the castle in the Apocalypse Gallery, which was built between 1952 and 1954 to replace the building that had disappeared . The tapestry illustrates the last book in the Bible, written by John at the end of the 1st century. The cycle was commissioned by Ludwig I, Duke of Anjou, in 1375 and was probably completed in 1382. The work captivates with its extraordinary size: it consists of 70 individual images still preserved today, which at a height of 4.50 m give a total length of around 100 m.

The tapestry cycle of the Apocalypse is the oldest surviving tapestry of this size. Its stylistic and technical quality testify to the ambition of the royal financier, the brother of King Charles V. In addition to depicting the Apocalypse, the work provides valuable information about the social and political situation at the end of the 14th century, when the Hundred Years War was still raging.

It is not known for which purpose or which room these tapestries were intended. Perhaps they were only hung in the open air within the castle district on major occasions. In general, tapestries in the Middle Ages had the task of protecting apartments or religious buildings from drafts and beautifying them. Like special pieces of furniture, tapestries were also taken on trips. As a gift, they even played a role in maintaining diplomatic relations.

Possibly it was a splendid decoration for the "Ordre de la Croix", the order of the cross that Ludwig I founded around 1370. The fact that the carpet contains a flag with the cross with a double bar, a sign of the duke's veneration for the relic of the real cross in Anjou, suggests this. But that is not certain, but that people were aware of the importance of these carpets at the time.

It was not until the Baroque period that the sense of this precious thing was lost. In 1782 they were put up for sale. During the French Revolution, they were cut up and used as blankets, bed rugs or tarpaulins to protect orange trees from the cold in winter. In 1843 the Bishop of Angers bought back a large part of the carpet fragments from the domain assembly, others were found after a persistent search. Even so, about a third of the scenes are lost forever. The originally bright colors can still be seen on the back. The fronts have become much paler, hence today's measures against too much light. The building in which the carpet cycle is located today was built in 1953–54 for this purpose.

The first carpet was almost completely preserved, and the fourth and fifth are still in their old size. Individual scenes and fragments are left of the others, which can no longer be assigned to a particular carpet in all cases.

literature

Web links

Commons : Angers Castle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 47 ° 28 ′ 13 ″  N , 0 ° 33 ′ 36 ″  W.