Le Rivau Castle
The castle Le Rivau ( French Château du Rivau ) is located near Chinon in the Center-Val de Loire region in France. The lands had belonged to the Beauvau family, related to the Counts of Anjou , since the 11th century .
Family chronicle
In the 13th century the family entered the service of the kings of France and many of their members gave their lives for the kingdom. In 1438, Isabelle de Beauvau's marriage to Jean II. De Bourbon finally resulted in a relationship to the royal family .
When Pierre de Beauvau, first chamberlain of Charles VII , married Anne de Fontenay in 1438, she brought Rivau Castle with her as a dowry. In 1442, the chamberlain received permission to fortify the castle. His successor François de Beauvau, King Francis I's first stable master , had large-scale stables built in 1510 to set up a horse breeding facility, from which King Francis I's cavalry obtained their stallions. In the 17th century the stud of Le Rivau had become the most important in the Touraine . By the way, in 1429 Joan of Arc and her followers were at Le Rivau to choose horses for the fight against the English besiegers of Orléans .
In the 17th century, due to the influence of the Renaissance, the exterior was neither a palace nor a castle . The only reason Le Rivau was spared demolition by Richelieu , who did not tolerate any stately buildings near his own castle, was because the cardinal's sister had married Jean de Beauvau. At the end of the 17th century, the Beauvau family left the Touraine and moved to the Lorraine . Le Rivau had been in her possession for 247 years.
Restoration of the facility
At the end of the 20th century, a 10-year restoration transformed the building into a medieval defense system with a drained moat , drawbridge , machicolation and loopholes .
A spiral staircase leads to the inside of the castle from the courtyard . Above the entrance you can see the motto of the Beauvau family: Beauvau sans départir . The main beams of the building measure 80 × 60 cm and are therefore larger in cross-section than in all other Loire castles . The trees needed for this were 300 years old when they were felled.
The great hall is covered with flint stones from Touraine. The windows of the west facade were enlarged in the Renaissance . The original vine leaf decor of the fireplace has been preserved.
Gardens
The palace gardens have been recognized by the Ministry of Culture as “Gardens of Remark”. There are 14 themed gardens: the lavender knot beds, Gargantua's vegetable garden, the magic forest, the Thumbnail's path, Alice in Riveauland, the discounts of delights, the garden theater, the forest in love, the running forest, the Cassinina, the fragrant avenue, the paradise orchard, the Garden of Potions and the Secret Garden. They are really fairytale-like and you feel reminded of fairy tales, myths and legends from literature and folklore.
The tenors in all parts of the garden are special collections of plants, humor, games and artistic creation. The visitor can walk on the paths of dwarfs, giants, good fairies and mythical creatures.
literature
- Uwe Albrecht : Le chateau du Rivau . In: Société Française d'Archéologie (ed.): Congrès Archéologique de France. 155e session 1997, Touraine . Self-published, Paris 2003, ISSN 0069-8881 , pp. 341-352.
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 6 ′ 13 ″ N , 0 ° 19 ′ 24 ″ E