Jallanges Castle

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Jallanges Castle lodging

The Jallanges Castle ( French Château de Jallanges ) is a castle complex in the heart of Touraine . It stands around 2.5 kilometers northwest of Vernou-sur-Brenne , a place in the Indre department of the Center-Val de Loire region in France . The Renaissance- style complex is one of the castles of the Loire and has been partially listed as a Monument Historique since June 22, 1946 . It has around 24,000 visitors a year.

Built in the second half of the 15th century on the site of an older predecessor, Jallanges is one of the oldest Renaissance castles in France. Expanded in the 16th and 18th centuries, it was restored for the first time in the second half of the 19th century , which is why today's interior is mostly from that time. After the building had been vacant for a long time from 1969, the Ferry-Balin family acquired the facility in 1984 and repaired it. Today she uses the castle as a residence and runs a bed and breakfast there .

history

The castle around 1900/1920

A permanent house , which was owned by René de Perray, is guaranteed for this place as early as 1213 . In 1462 it belonged to Jean Gaudin, whose descendant Collas Gaudin sold it to Jean Lopin in 1471. The complex was completely rebuilt from 1460, which lasted until around 1480. In the last third of the 15th century, Jallanges belonged to several closely related families at the same time. In addition to the Gaudins, these included the de Saint-Pol, Houdan des Landes and de Sainte-Marthe families. On July 27, 1502, Nicolas Gaudin, a trader from Tours , treasurer of Anne de Bretagne and Claude de France, and notary and secretary of Louis XII. , the entire property. Until his death in 1517, he had it expanded in the style of the flamboyant , which is why the complex is similar to the two castles Plessis-lès-Tours and Les Réaux , which were built around the same time as the two construction phases of Jallanges. Gaudin had no children from his two marriages, and so the Ruzé family inherited the property. The castle came to her husband Guillaume Barthelemy via Jehanne de Ruzé. Only a little later, through marriage in 1520, it became the property of Philbert Babou, Chief Financial Officer under Francis I and great-grandfather Gabrielle d'Estrées , the mistress of the French King Henry IV. Philbert exchanged Jallanges with François de Blanchefort for the Seigneurie on December 17, 1522 Thuisseau.

In 1552 there was another change of ownership. After Jeanne de Brancourt's death, René de Fontaine, Martin de Beaune and Michel Pelle inherited the castle, which they sold to Michel de Bouillon that year. His grandson François had it auctioned in 1625. Michel Le Loyer was awarded the contract for 32,000  livres tournois . Six years later, in October 1631, Jallanges was elevated to castellany ( châtellenie des Etangs ) along with some other lands . After the castle had been owned by Jean de Mons in 1643, it was owned by René du Peyrat in 1649. From his son Jean, the plant changed to his widow Françoise d'Esperonnet. In 1672 the facility was again owned by Nicolas Lefebvre, seigneur de la Falluère. She kept his family for over 110 years. Claude-Pierre de la Falluère emigrated during the French Revolution . Jallanges Castle was confiscated and sold on 9th  Floréal VI (April 28th 1798) as a national property. The buyers were Antoine-Marc Lefebvre de la Falluère and his wife, but they had to sell the facility on on the 13th  Ventôse VII (March 3, 1799).

The Meignan family in the palace gardens, photo by Gustave William Lemaire , c. 1900/1920

After Jules-Gaspart Amour, vicomte de Condates, acquired the castle in 1836, he invested large sums in its restoration and reconstruction. Via Henry Charles Bouteiller de Châteaufort the property came to Joseph Gailleton, who bequeathed it to his relative Jean-Victor Meignan, Mayor of Vernou. Meignan also restored the buildings and repaired the castle chapel before selling the complex to André Maggiar in 1919. Associated with this was the express requirement to maintain and preserve the castle. After almost 50 years as owner of the castle, Maggiar sold the complex to a real estate company in 1966. The latter sold the furniture and divided the land into plots, felled centuries-old trees for firewood and sold the property again after only four months. The new owner was Jacques Bigot, who set up a correctional home for disabled children in the castle. In order to adapt the buildings to this new use, the horse stables were converted into classrooms and the attic was converted into a dormitory with shower rooms. The inventory removed during the renovation work, such as old chimneys and paneling from the 16th century and even the castle library, were given away to the residents of the area.

After three years the home closed its doors and it was vacant for a long time. Plans in the 1970s to convert the area into a hotel complex failed. The castle was neglected and deteriorated. This changed in July 1984 when the Ferry-Balin family bought the facility. She restored the dilapidated buildings and now uses them as a residence. At the same time she opened the castle for tours and runs a bed and breakfast in it. In 1999, the owners also had the north wing of the farmyard belonging to the castle restored. After eight months of work, there is now a large room available for concerts, seminars, theater performances or private parties.

description

Site plan of the palace complex

building

Jallanges Castle stands on a small hill in the middle of the Vouvray wine-growing region . It is an eight hectare large park area surrounded by gardens. An avenue over 300 meters long leads to the wrought-iron entrance gate, which allows access to the main courtyard . In the south this is bordered by the two-story logis . Its central part, the Corps de Logis , is the oldest part of the castle and dates from the 15th century. It is adjoined to the west and east by two-story, but somewhat lower, side wings from the 16th century. On the courtyard side, a stair tower with a spiral staircase is built in front of the facade with sculptural decoration in the late Gothic style , the lower floors of which are pentagonal, while the upper floor has a square floor plan. Red and black bricks were used for the walls , which were arranged in such a way that they form a net-like checkered pattern. Light-colored stone was used for corner blocks and door and window frames . This technique is called Brique-et-Pierre in French . Typical of such buildings - as in the case of Jallanges - are slate-covered roofs, which bring a third color into play. The roof of the logis has portholes with sculptural decoration in the style of the flamboyant. Fits to be found on the portal in a stair tower ogee with finial .

Inside the Logis, the furnishings almost exclusively date from the 19th century. An exception to this is the tiled floor in the entrance area, which dates back to the 17th century. Salons enfilade adjoin this room to the east and west . These include the large salon with a black fireplace made of Florentine marble and a coffered ceiling . It received its furnishings in 1892. The chimney lintel is decorated with scallops , its take plate shows the year 1635 and the name Jean de Lescornay. In the eastern area of ​​the Logis there is a billiard room and a room that the current owners of the castle dedicated to Countess Marie Gaudin , favorite of Franz I.

On the eastern side of the main courtyard is a closed, four-wing complex of farm buildings. A basket arched passage in a pavilion tower , which is located approximately in the middle of the western economic wing, provides access to the inner courtyard . On both sides of the passage there are Renaissance pilasters , which are decorated with tendrils and geometric ornaments. The east wing of the economic district dates from 1765 and was changed around 1850. With the exception of the southwest corner, there are round towers from the 16th century with conical roofs at all corners of the farm yard . Light and red bricks were arranged in a checkerboard pattern for its masonry.

The palace chapel from 1631 is located on the northwest corner of the courtyard. It is dedicated to St. Joseph . Above its arched entrance there is an empty, circular niche in the arched gable, which is framed by festoons . The gable bears a stone cross at the end. Inside the band which is of an incorrect vault from gypsum spanned nave by a wooden balustrade of the apse separated. The sacristy is located in a small square extension on the north outside of the church.

Garden and park

The west side of the main courtyard is bordered by a Renaissance garden . This can be reached through a wrought-iron gate, the embossed pillars of which are decorated with Doric pilasters. The two-winged gate that came from Chanteloup Castle to Jallanges in 1829 has the initials J and D worked into it. The current castle owners have recultivated the garden and planted old types of roses as well as lilies , irises and peonies there .

There are ancient cedars and holly trees that are over 300 years old in the palace gardens. After one of the cedars had died, the French artist Gérard Ferruel made two sculptures from the wood of the tree, which can be seen today in the palace gardens. In the western area of ​​the park there is a massive, roofless round tower with a diameter of around ten meters. It may be an earlier pigeon tower . Its quarry stone walls are over four feet thick. The two tower floors are now separated from each other by a modern concrete ceiling.

literature

  • Catherine Bibollet, Robert de Laroche: Châteaux, Parcs et Jardins en vallée de la Loire. La Renaissance du Livre, Tournai 2003, ISBN 2-8046-0754-2 , p. 175.
  • Morgane Bouron: Le Château de Jallanges. Master's thesis at the University of François Rabelais, Tours 2008.
  • Claude Frégnac: Merveilles des châteaux du Val de Loire. Hachette, Paris 1964, p. 312.
  • Armand Lanoux, Annie Cospérec: Castles of the Loire. Editions Sun, Paris 1980, ISBN 2-7191-0106-X , pp. 51-52.
  • André Montoux: Vieux logis de Touraine. Volume 4. CLD, Chambray-lès-Tours 1979, p. 243 ff ( online ).
  • Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos (ed.): Le Guide du Patrimoine. Center, Val de Loire. Hachette, Paris 1992, ISBN 2-01-018538-2 , p. 939.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Entry of the castle in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  2. ↑ Bruno Pille: Le renouveau culturel du château de Jallanges. In: La Nouvelle République. Edition of October 22, 2018 ( online ).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l History of the complex and its owners on the castle website ( Memento from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos (ed.): Le Guide du Patrimoine. Center, Val de Loire. 1992, p. 939.
  5. ^ Jean-Pierre Babelon: Châteaux de France au siècle de la Renaissance . Flammarion, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-08-012062-X , pp. 744 .
  6. ^ Communications. In: Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Touraine. Volume 25. Société archéologique de Touraine, Tours 1933, ISSN  1153-2521 , p. 133 ( digitized version ).
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g André Montoux: Vieux logis de Touraine. 1979, p. 243 ff.
  8. ↑ a b Information according to the cadastral map available online at geoportail.gouv.fr
  9. ↑ a b Information on the palace gardens , accessed on January 4, 2020.

Coordinates: 47 ° 26 ′ 40.4 "  N , 0 ° 49 ′ 47"  E