Le Lude Castle
The castle Le Lude ( French Château du Lude ) is located on the western bank of the Loir River in the French town of Le Lude in the Sarthe department . It is particularly characterized by the variety of architectural styles visible on it , which range from Gothic to Classicism . The complex is one of the Loire castles .
The first parts of the building have been under monument protection since February 1928 , the remaining buildings were added to the list of monuments in October 1992 .
history
First fortification
The origins of the castle lie in a fortification called Fort de la Motte . The complex was a wooden structure that the Counts of Anjou built on the banks of the Loir River in the 10th century to defend Anjou against the invasions of the Normans. The present castle was built on the foundations of a fortress from the 13th century. Its six towers flanked an angular enclosure , which was surrounded by a deep moat and a fortification was built in front of it. During the Hundred Years' War the castle was besieged by the English several times and finally taken in 1425 by Richard de Beauchamp , the Earl of Warwick . The "bluebeard" Gilles de Rais was able to recapture it in 1427 and then joined the troops of Jeanne d'Arc s who lay outside Orleans.
Reconstruction as a castle
In 1457, Jean de Daillon , Chamberlain of King Louis XI. , the badly battered lock. Until 1530 he and his son Jacques dedicated themselves to the construction of a three-wing complex around an inner courtyard, the south facade of which shows the style of the early Renaissance and is flanked by four round towers. The façade design of the Francis I wing in Blois Castle and the towers of Chambord Castle can be found here. High windows and stacked pillars create a vertical structure, and horizontal gable bands emphasize the individual floors. Stone medallions decorate the facade and give it a special character. The terrace between the towers on the moat was a novelty. The architect responsible for the redesign, which began in 1520, was Jean Gendrot , builder Renés von Anjou .
The son of Jean, Count of Le Lude, who was mainly responsible for the interior design of the castle, was followed by his son François. He was in the service of Henry IV and Louis XIII. , which he was able to receive on his property alongside other high-ranking personalities such as the Marquise de Sévigné . The so-called bedroom of Henry IV with wall coverings made of corduan leather commemorates the visit of the French king. François' successor, Timoléon, completed the palace and gardens. The inner courtyard, called the Second Renaissance , dates from his time . In recognition of Heinrich, the last descendant of the family living at his court, Louis XIV raised Le Lude to the status of a duchy with the duchy of a pair ( French duché-pairie ).
Further expansion
In 1751, Le Lude became the property of Joseph du Velaer , a merchant for an East India company . His niece, the Marquise de la Vieuville , had the architect Jean Benoît Vincent Barré , a student of Ange-Jacques Gabriel s, who was also responsible for the plans for the Montgeoffroy Castle , carry out new construction work in 1787. The entrance wing and the rear, tripartite pavilion wing of Louis XVI. attributed to; the slightly rising central pavilion has a triangular gable adorned with coat of arms, the floors are decorated with niches and medallions.
During the French Revolution , the marquise succeeded in protecting the property from looting by voluntarily ceding part of the palace furnishings to the revolutionary government of Angers . She left the complex through her daughter to the Talhouët family, who had extensive work carried out to restore the building in the course of the 19th century . The current owner, Comtesse de Nicolay , comes from this family.
Special interior
A small cabinet - often incorrectly referred to as an oratory - has a painted ceiling with a pointed arched vault and very detailed wall paintings from the period between 1559 and 1585 and, along with those of the Pribac and Beauregard castles, is one of the few surviving examples of a studiolo in the Italian style.
The Great Salon has a white paneling in the Louis XVI fitted style and gilded furniture from the 18th century.
literature
- Jean-Pierre Babelon: Châteaux de France au siècle de la Renaissance . Flammarion, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-08-012062-X , pp. 138-142, 444-445 .
- Wilfried Hansmann : The Loire Valley. Castles, churches and cities in the «Garden of France» . 2nd Edition. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2006, ISBN 3-7701-6614-0 , p. 240-241 .
- Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos, Robert Polidori : Castles in the Loire Valley . Könemann, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-89508-597-9 , p. 214-223 .
- René Polette: Lovable Loire castles . Morstadt, Kehl 1996, ISBN 3-88571-266-0 , pp. 71-73.
- The castles on the Loire . Verlag Valoire-Estel, Blois 2006, ISBN 2-909575-73-X , p. 137.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Castle Le Lude in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French), accessed on April 6, 2011.
- ↑ Roberto Schezen, Laure Murat: castles and country estates in France . Heyne, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-05185-8 , page 146.
- ↑ Roberto Schezen, Laure Murat: castles and country estates in France . Heyne, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-05185-8 , pages 138 and 148.
- ↑ J.-M. Pérouse de Montclos: Castles in the Loire Valley , page 216.
- ↑ J.-P. Babelon: Châteaux de France au siècle de la Renaissance , page 142.
Coordinates: 47 ° 38 ′ 51 ″ N , 0 ° 9 ′ 32 ″ E