Serrant Castle

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The Serrant Chateau is located near the French town of Saint-Georges-sur-Loire in the department of Maine-et-Loire .

Medieval fortress

Serrant Castle has belonged to the noble Le Brie family since the 14th century. Pontus Le Brie received from Louis XI. permission to build a fortress with a drawbridge , a castle moat and massive corner towers, whose medieval silhouette dominated the landscape from then on.

Conversion to a renaissance castle

Serrant Castle - chapel with marble tomb
Serrant Castle - Park Front

The current shape of the castle building goes back to Charles de Brie, who was bewitched by the artistic ideas of the Renaissance and wanted to have the entire complex rebuilt from 1546. The contract was awarded to the architect Philibert Delorme , who had already executed the bold wing of the Chenonceau Castle over the Cher River . Due to financial difficulties, however, only the north tower, half of the central residential wing and the adjacent wing could be built.

After Serrant had changed hands several times, the diplomat and esthete Guillaume de Bautru finally acquired the property in 1636 . He and his son Guillaume completed the renovation according to the original plans: the main wing, south tower and both side wings were completed by around 1700, the corner towers of the old complex were replaced by two-storey pavilions and finally the entrance portal was built in the central axis. As the last part of the complex, a chapel was built at the beginning of the 18th century, which is attributed to Jules Hardouin-Mansart . Your most important piece of equipment is the marble tomb for Nicolas de Bautru, marquis de Vaubrun , commander of the French army. His wife ordered the tomb from the important sculptor at the court of Louis XIV , Antoine Coysevox , in 1677 .

The La Trémoille family marries one

In 1749 the last descendant of Guillame de Bautrus sold Serrant Castle to the shipowner Antoine Walsh from Nantes . The family renewed the interior, designed the park based on the English model and had two pavilions and the honor gate built. In 1830 Valentine Walsh de Serrant married the Duke de la Trémoille, a member of one of the oldest noble families in France (see: House La Trémoille ). The Duke had the castle restored by Lucien Magne; from this period some additions come as the balustrade along the floor and around the towers and the family coat of arms of La Trémoilles above the entrance.

Serrant Castle is still privately owned today; the current owners are the descendants of La Trémoilles, Prince and Princess of Merode-Westerloo. They strive to expand and modernize the interior.

Stylistically uniform residence

Despite the more than 100 years between the beginning and completion of Serrant, the castle today presents itself as a stylistically uniform residence; the three-wing complex with a courtyard , corner pavilions and a mighty portal is bordered by a moat and surrounded by a large park. The buildings are mainly made of brown slate ; light tufa sets decorative accents on the outside and dominates the courtyard sides. From the time I Franz was pilasters of the facades adopted.

A central body with a hatch and its triangular gable rises above the double-arched entrance of the central wing . The side entrances and the entrance of the residence on the park side are reached via the stone bridges crossing the wide moat, the arcades of which rest on pillars with pyramidal heads.

literature

Web links

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

Coordinates: 47 ° 24 '51.5 "  N , 0 ° 44' 36.9"  W