Baugé Castle
Baugé Castle is a hunting lodge built between 1454 and 1465 by René I , Count of Anjou . It's in the French town of Baugé in the department of Maine-et-Loire in the region of Pays de la Loire .
In the 11th century, between two tributaries of the Loire, near the present-day village of Vieil-Baugé, a fortification built in 999 by the Lords of Saumur in a strategically favorable place, around which a settlement gradually developed. From 1454 Rene d'Anjou, cousin and brother-in-law of Charles VII , had the castle rebuilt by Guillaume Robin, which was destroyed by the English in 1436. He and his mother, Yolande d'Aragon, liked to stay in the hunting lodge surrounded by large forests. In 1467 René made the castle his main residence. But already in 1471 he had to take over the duchy that King Ludwig XI. wanted to rejoin the kingdom, left for good.
The main wing is the only remaining part of the complex, the curtain wall once enclosed courtyards, gardens and outbuildings. The main facade with the stair towers looks to the southeast. One of the stair towers leads to an elongated building with several reception rooms. This part is completed on the city side by a square pavilion. The private rooms at the end of this were reached via a second stair tower. The right wing, which also houses a prayer room that is well worth seeing, now houses a museum showing old weapons, armor and coins.
literature
- Castles and cities of the Loire . Valoire-Estel, Florence 2006, ISBN 88-476-1863-0 , p. 143.
- Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos, Robert Polidori : Castles in the Loire Valley . Könemann, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-89508-597-9 , p. 80 .
Web links
- Castle website (French)
Coordinates: 47 ° 32 '35.8 " N , 0 ° 6' 14.9" W.