Le Verger Castle (Seiches-sur-le-Loir)
The Le Verger Castle (French: Château du Verger ) was a castle complex in Seiches-sur-le-Loir in the French department of Maine-et-Loire . Only a few remains of the forecourt are still preserved today.
history
The French marshal Pierre de Rohan I. acquired the land in 1492 and commissioned the construction of a castle on his return from one of the French Italy campaigns before 1498, when he was one of the most powerful men in France. For further work, the marshal brought the chief architect of Amboise Castle Colin Biart to Seiches-sur-le-Loir. After falling out of favor in 1504, Rohan neglected his other two castles, La Motte-Glain and Mortier-Crolles , to complete and beautify Le Verger. He died there in 1513.
Between 1776 and 1783, Cardinal Louis René Édouard de Rohan-Guéméné , a descendant of the Marshal, demolished and partially abandoned the complex . It was sold during the French Revolution and is now privately owned.
description
The palace complex consisted of two square courtyards lying one behind the other, which were surrounded on all sides by building wings and secured by a shared moat . The corps de logis stood exactly in the middle, thus separating the two courtyards from one another. An equestrian statue of Pierre I. de Rohan was located above its central portal . The three wings of the rear courtyard were used exclusively for residential purposes, while the buildings in the forecourt were used for commercial purposes. Three windows from the castle chapel can now be found in Angers Cathedral .
The castle was still characterized by style elements of the flamboyant , but the influence of the emerging Italian Renaissance was already noticeable, for example through the perfect symmetry of the complex. A niche in the facade of the Corps de Logis showed under the coat of arms of King Louis XII. the year 1499 and reminded of a visit by the monarch to the castle with his wife Anne de Bretagne .
literature
- Jean-Pierre Babelon: Châteaux de France au siècle de la Renaissance . Flammarion, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-08-012062-X , pp. 20, 37-38 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ J.-P. Babelon: Châteaux de France au siècle de la renaissance . P. 37.
- ↑ francebalade.com as of December 25, 2007
Coordinates: 47 ° 35 '56 " N , 0 ° 21' 37" W.