Simiane-la-Rotonde Castle
The Château de Simiane-la-Rotonde is located in the French commune of Simiane-la-Rotonde in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in the Région Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur on top of a cone-shaped rocky spur, the tip of the ruins of the château is crowned with its rotunda . Simiane-la-Rotonde is a typical example of a "village perché" (mountain village), at the feet of which a vast plain spreads out.
The inner structure of the rotunda building with its not quite circular domed vault is reminiscent of the sacred architecture of that time (12th century). This has led to the recent desire to see a church or memorial building in it at times . Today, however, it is undisputed that it is a well-fortified castle tower, a donjon . It is believed that the first floor of the tower was used as a storage room, while the upper floor was used for representative or even administrative purposes, such as the gathering of the lord's vassals . A comparison with the "Knights of the Round Table" is obvious.
The Donjon of Simiane is the only known example of an aristocratic residential tower in the form of a rotunda in southern France in the 12th century. He is probably a close relative, if not the model of the Tour de Constance of Louis the Saint in Aigues-Mortes , which was built in the 13th century.
History
The Rotunda of Simiane is by no means an isolated architectural monument, but part of an overall complex, a village close to the castle, the "Castrum Simianae" of the medieval texts. The oldest document that mentions the rotunda is a file from 1031 that is kept by the "Cartulaire de Saint-Victor de Marseille" .
The castle, of which essentially the rotunda and the northern and eastern enclosing walls have been preserved, was built towards the end of the 12th century by the lords of Simiane , who already had extensive holdings in the area of today's Vaucluse .
The south side of the donjon leans against the rest of a former round tower with a much smaller diameter, the construction of which is dated to the 11th century, which perhaps belonged to an unknown predecessor structure.
In the early 13th century, the south side of the castle was closed off almost in its entire length by the building with the living quarters of the lordship, the outer wall of which also formed the defensive wall of the castle. This originally only had slit-like loopholes that were later exchanged for windows. It is not clear from the sources whether these buildings replaced older ones, but it is not unlikely.
In the 14th century, the eastern and southern defensive walls of the castle were reinforced with a second defensive system between the town's defensive walls in the south-west and north-east. The new defensive wall was erected at a distance of five to ten meters from the first and the resulting space was deepened to form a dry trench. This area also served as a tournament area for the knights.
In the 16th century, the original staircase to the hall of the rotunda was replaced by a stone spiral staircase , which was inserted into the narrow angle between the rotunda and the manor house and surrounded by walls almost square. Since then, this staircase has also opened up the rooms on the upper floor of the manor house.
In the same century, the slit-like windows on the south facade of the manor house were enlarged with windows in the Renaissance style.
In 1637 the old tower in the south of the rotunda was razed because the stones were needed for various repairs to the château. Traces of him are still preserved in the wall surrounding the donjon.
The rotunda was placed under monument protection as early as 1843.
In 1875 the whole facade was completely restored by the architect Henry Révoil .
In the course of a current restoration in 1986/1987, the ceiling separating the floors in the donjon was restored.
Plant of the château
The Donjon des Château, generally known as the "Rotunda", is located at the highest point in the village of Simiane . From the outside it appears as a round, massive, coarse and not particularly high tower, on which a mighty defensive wall leans in the northeast. The narrow ring wall, which has been removed in places, surrounds roughly half the platform of the castle courtyard in the north and east in irregular, curved sections. The southern section of the defensive wall is formed from the outer wall of the manorial building, which swings twice at the eastern end and then hits the end of the ring wall.
The center of the château is formed by an almost rectangular courtyard with a cistern in the middle. Originally, a number of buildings were grouped around it, some of which have now disappeared. The west is dominated by the two-storey round building or donjon, which was originally based on a significantly slimmer and older round tower. The surrounding wall was formerly attached to the northeast. A staircase that is no longer known today led up to the battlements of the surrounding wall and at the same time to the entrances to the hall and to the roof of the rotunda. In the eastern section of the courtyard, which is now covered by a terrace, there used to be utility buildings, farm buildings and stables. Traces of this were still preserved towards the end of the 18th century. The southern edge of the plateau is closed off by the two-story residential buildings of the manor house.
The little-known main building in the southwest of the manor is arguably the most interesting. It has a spacious, rectangular and barrel-vaulted hall on the courtyard level, which is divided into four bays by belt arches and wall templates. The walls facing the courtyard are pierced by slit-like windows with inwardly widened windows. The windows in the other rooms are similarly sparsely distributed.
Judging by the masonry, the window profiles and the interior elevation, the main building of the manor is probably a building from the beginning of the 13th century, i.e. only a little later than the donjon. The spacious and well-protected living space was renovated and enlarged, especially in the 16th century. Around the same time, the large windows with Renaissance tracery were installed on the upper floor of the south wall. Only at the same time were the floors of the residential wing and the hall on the upper floor of the rotunda connected to one another with a new spiral staircase.
In the north, the castle was naturally protected by the steep slope towards the valley floor. In the west, around the donjon, a dry trench carved into the rock, which is now buried, led to a good distance together with a "vallum". In the south and east, a second curtain wall with a moat separates the castle from the village and creates a tournament area in between.
Shape and dimensions
Approximate dimensions
Chateau
Total expansion
without ditch and tournament area on the south and east side:
- Width in north-south direction, roughly in the middle of the residential building and courtyard: 30.50 m
- Length in west-east direction roughly in the middle of the donjon and courtyard: 58.00 m
Donjon
External dimensions
- Diameter at the base: 17.00 m
- Total height: 18.00 m
- Height of the ground floor: 4.70 m
- Height of the upper floor: 10.50 m
- Small tower diameter: 3.00 m
- Height of this tower: 2.80 m
Internal dimensions
- Diameter: 10.00 m
- Wall thickness of the first floor: 4.40 m
Donjon (rotunda)
Exterior
From the west to north and south, the donjon appears like an unattractive "stone casemate" without any recognizable division into storeys. The mighty, clumped structure, overgrown with the bedrock, follows an irregular plan. The rounded walls rise to a truncated cone, tapering slightly towards the top, and are built with irregular, predominantly dark gray quarry stone masonry. From a reasonable distance and height, behind the upper edge of the wall, you can see a flat sloping conical roof covered with stone slabs. The masonry originally reached a little higher and formed a defense attica , probably also with incorporated battlements. On the center of the roof there is a small hexagonal turret a good two meters high, which surrounds the circular oculus of the dome. On the west side, near the upper edge of the masonry, two small rectangular window openings are cut out. They belong to light and air shafts that reach about four meters deep into the lower area of the dome and open there in vault segments.
The eastern facade, between the former old round tower in the south of the donjon and the north-eastern connection of the surrounding wall of the castle, points with a special design to the castle courtyard to the east.
The ground floor, closed except for the arched access door, in the form of a steeply inclined, approximately 3.20 meter high truncated cone protrudes slightly from the upper floor and shows a masonry similar to the west side of the donjon. To the right of the door to the former connection to the defensive wall, the base masonry extends a good 1.50 meters higher. A good distance to the north of the door, the surrounding wall of the castle was originally closely connected to the donjon. It joined approximately immediately next to the north edge of the large niche, which is referred to above as the unfinished fourth side of the truncated pyramid. The breach that is visible today in the defensive wall only emerged in modern times.
A steeply inclined truncated pyramid begins above the basement, showing four sides facing the courtyard, which are separated by three ridges. The fourth side of the truncated pyramid does not seem to have been completed. In this section there is a niche in the quarry stone masonry, which, with its irregular boundaries and background, gives all signs of incompletion. The whole thing looks as if the intention was to arrange another truncated pyramid side here, but no longer got around to it. The quarry stone masonry above the niche could indicate that the donjon originally consisted of this masonry all around and that the "noble" stone facade to the courtyard was only created later (?).
This facade is neatly assembled from predominantly light, smooth, large-format stone. In a good three quarters of the truncated pyramid height, the stump sides recede significantly and then rise even further. Today its height corresponds to the outer edge of the dry stone wall of the donjon, which was probably also crowned with battlements. Behind them the defenders could find cover against attacks.
The portal to the rotunda hall is cut out in the axis of the second stump side from the left. In each of the other areas a high, deeply recessed blind arcade is embedded, the one to the left of the portal is round-arched but slightly pointed, the one to the right is ogive, the one on the far right has probably remained unfinished. These arcade niches should stabilize the walls, but at the same time make them easier. The niche backgrounds consist of regular layered masonry made of rectangular cut stones with slightly embossed visible surfaces.
The three-tier archivolt portal rests on both sides on three wall recesses, the two inner edges of which have been shaped into partially round columns and the outer edges of which are broken with a wide bevel. The pillars stand on pedestals less than a meter high. The capitals are decorated with stylized acanthus leaves in a careful bas-relief that resembles delicate bobbin lace. They are covered by strong, triple-profiled fighters. The fighter profiles extend horizontally to the arcade niches and are led around on their walls. The profiles are continued on the opposite sides of the niches. The inner arch, made of a round bar and two angular companions, surrounds a smooth arched field that rests on profiled corbels that extend into the doorway. The middle arch consists of a serrated profile that rests against a correspondingly serrated edge. The outer arch again consists of a round bar with two angular companions. The floor level of the hall on the upper floor is still well above the platform in front of its entrance portal. The stairs leading up to it are located in the reveal area of the portal, partly outside and partly inside behind the door.
The whole facade was completely restored in 1875 by the architect Henry Révoil , without overzealousness and without serious mistakes if you compare it with the photos and drawings before this work. At the top, three wall sections set back slightly behind the facade leave a passage that originally served as a rampart. This was protected at the front by a crenellated wreath that has now disappeared. A drawing from the 17th or 18th century in the library of Carpentras (Ms. 913) shows battlements separated at this height by jagged walls with slotted openings. The two battlements of the main facade have cross-shaped, vertical loopholes. Perhaps this work continued around the donjon and even on the perimeter wall of the castle.
Castle courtyard from the portal
Terrace and defensive wall by S
Portals of the rotunda of SO
Main portal to the hall
Staircase, upper area
Niche to the left of the portal
Rotunda, unfinished east side
Donjon with tower connection from S
The plans and drawings of the two architects from the Monument Office, Joffroy and Révoil , who carried out restorations on this building in the 19th century, drew lines parallel to the surrounding wall and perpendicular to the donjon. They wanted to imply substructures, such as a ramp or a staircase, interrupted by steps that allowed access to the battlements of the surrounding wall and to a small door in the corner between battlements and donjon. This door led to a staircase, also called "secret staircase" in the sources, which was housed within the thick outer wall of the donjon, which at that time made it possible to reach the arches of the domed vault without being seen from the outside and further up to the upper one, even before attacks sheltered terrace of the donjon. If you look at the situation on the fourth “unfinished” side from the north, you can see a slender opening in the “niche reveal”, a cross-section through the staircase described above, which reached a little further down. The heavy signs of wear on the stairs are evidence of frequent use.
According to these findings, the medieval donjon of Simiane was in very close connection with the defensive wall of the castrum , the defenders could not see each other from the outside and could help each other.
The entrance door to the large hall of the rotunda on the upper floor was also accessed by another staircase until the 16th century, when the spiral staircase that is preserved today was built. This was probably also a stone staircase leaning against the stable substructure of the donjon. Traces of it are said to have been visible as recently as the 19th century. They even wanted to restore it in 1851, but soon abandoned it.
Interior
Ground floor of the rotunda
The original horizontal division of the donjon into a relatively low ground floor (around 4.50 meters) and a high upper floor (around 10.0 meters) was restored in the course of a current restoration in 1986/1987. From photos of the interior before this date, it can be seen that the inside of the walls on the ground floor roughly match the interior pillars of the arcade pillars on the upper floor. The total thickness of the enclosing walls on the first floor can be seen from the floor plan with about 4.40 meters. From the joint pattern on the inside of these walls, it can be seen that the enclosing walls on the first floor, as well as on the upper floor, consisted of outer walls, perhaps 2.50 meters thick, with strong pillars on the inside at a depth of about 1.90 meters . The wall sections between the pillars must later have been walled up flush with the surface. When this happened, there is no information in the sources. It is possible that the necessity of this was already recognized when the heavy loads of the dome and the thick outer walls took effect. The inside of the outer wall does not consist of a circular curved wall surface like the outside, but of twelve shorter wall sections of the former pillars and twelve wider sections of the former pillar spaces, but all as flat segments. The walls consist on the inside of regular layered masonry made of light rubble stone.
The new, storey-separating ceiling is a wooden beam ceiling with ceiling formwork on top, the beams of which rest on the outer walls and not quite in the middle of a flat segmented arch spanning the entire width of the room , which runs parallel to the wall surface in which the access door is cut out. The arch consists of unevenly high wedge stones made of smooth stone, the gussets of which are lined horizontally with broken stones up to the ceiling formwork. The arch ends are supported by brick round pillars. This construction of the ceiling goes back to traditional evidence. The pillars still existed in the 19th century. The testimonies of Abbot Constantin d'Aurel from 1785, Abbot Giffon , Rector of Simiane from 1796 to 1823, Millin 1807 and the architect Joffroy 1851 confirm that this construction is justified. Since the segment arch did not run exactly in the middle of the room, it can be assumed that, in the event of a defense, weapons, projectiles and supplies from the storage room on the ground floor can be transported with ropes to the roof terrace via the oculus in the middle of the vault and just below it through a hole in the floor of the upper floor could.
The entrance portal has reveals with a total depth of around 4.40 meters, in which three different types of arches were used. The outer round arched portal opening has the narrowest reveal made of large-format, smooth stone. It is closed on the inside by a single-leaf door leaf. The second reveal with a flat segment arch and significantly wider and higher clear dimensions is a good 1.5 meters wide. The third reveal is a good 2.5 meters wide, the clear dimensions of the ogival passage increase again with a clear width of 2.15 meters and about 3.50 meters clear height at the apex.
During the reconstruction of the false ceiling, a straight double staircase was built from the ground floor to the upper floor as an inner connection, the lower course of which is made of stone and the upper one of wood. The sources do not provide any information about whether such a staircase originally existed. In any case, the lower part of the staircase with its intermediate platform made of ashlar and a foundation made of quarry stone looks as if it belongs to the stone material of the rooms built here. The lower flight of stairs with a landing could even be an original design.
Upper floor of the rotunda
The approximately ten-meter-high, irregularly dodecagonal hall above the ground floor is one of the living rooms of the manor house of the chateau and is unusually lavishly designed in relation to its other rooms. However, it is completely separate from these and accordingly independent.
Twelve deep arched arcatures enclose the not quite circular space. Eleven of them are blind arcades, and one facing south-east forms the entrance, which is about five meters above the castle courtyard. The particularly carefully crafted arcatures each enclose almost rectangular niches in the floor plan. The pillars separating the niches are each given a floor plan that tapers towards the center of the room.
The niches are about 2.00 meters wide, 1.30 meters deep and 3.15 meters high at the top. They are covered by arched vaults. The front sides of the pillars are each clad with a group of three of half to three-quarter round columns. The stronger one in the middle stands out clearly compared to the two slimmer ones, as does the wall surfaces on the room side above the archivolts. Most of the columns are equipped with carved capitals, strong, double-profiled striker plates, high, bell-shaped profiled bases and angular plinths . The capitals made of fine marble usually unfold flat stylized leaves of water plants to form a broad basket. A border emphasizes the leaf lobes. Serrations or masonry drill holes clearly highlight the ribs. There are also some unmachined blanks for the capitals. The transom profile is carried over the entire depth of the niche. The same applies to the small protrusion of the niche reveal at the level of the capitals, with a rounded visible edge, as well as to the continuation of the profiling of the bases and plinths down to the niche background. The curved edges on the room side are divided into two almost equally dimensioned round bars arranged one above the other, which are accompanied by narrow profiles flush with the wall. The outer round bars meet on the middle column, the inner ones stand on the two slimmer columns.
The niche backgrounds are made of bright rubble stones in regular layered masonry, the visible surfaces of which, however, are not smoothed as with all other stone surfaces in the room. The niche that contains the entrance portal has roughly the same design as the rest. Only the smooth stone background is broken through by the entrance portal. The actual outer portal opening is rectangular and has profiled corbels in the upper corners that support the lintel of the arch field. It is followed inwards by a wider and higher reveal with a flat segment arch. The inner steps of the stairs that lead to the platform in front of the portal are located in this reveal. Then comes the reveal of the niche with its profiles. and its arcature.
A horizontal cantilevered cornice with a quarter-round cross-section and a horizontal top runs just above the apex of the outer round bars of the arcades, around the entire room, in twelve sections running in a straight line in plan. The gussets between this cornice and the outer round bars of the arcature are walled up horizontally with smooth ashlar, flush with the surface of the outer round bar and just as straight in each of these sections.
As an extension of the middle pillars in front of the wall pillars, slim composite pillars made of double round bars with a narrow intermediate profile are hidden between the transom plates and the surrounding cantilever cornice. These stand above the fighter plates on equally wide, cube-shaped pedestals that protrude slightly towards the fighters, only partially carved with expressive masks. At the upper end of the composite columns there is a corbel, the front and bottom of which is profiled like the composite column. Above this, the surrounding cantilevered cornice is led around the corbels. The cantilevered cornice forms the upper end of the vertical inner sides of the hall walls and their arcatures.
Above this begins the high and wide vault of the not semicircular, but semi-elliptical dome. Its gussets are bricked in horizontal layers like those of a monastery vault with smooth stone. A construction rare here, which was also used on the half dome of the choir bay of the church of Le Thor (Département Vaucluse) . The dome is supported by protruding ribs with an almost square cross-section, which is broken up into four slightly separated round bars. These ribs run irregularly towards a circular ox-eye , an oculus , in the middle of the vault. The round opening is surrounded by a cylindrical shaft on which twelve short cross-sections of the ribs are molded. The outer ring of the cylinder is decorated with petals and other vegetable motifs. With the ribs arriving at the top, it is noticeable that they do not hit the edge of the oculus and its molded-on rib pieces exactly radially . Rather, the ribs meet the cylinder as if twisted slightly to one side in a helical manner. Obviously, this is not an effect intended by the builders, but rather the result of an imperfect construction method that can be observed throughout the entire structure.
The high hall is only very weakly illuminated by natural light. It is about four irregularly distributed openings in the lower area of the vault gussets. Two are arranged on the east side on both sides of the entrance portal, two more on the opposite western side. In each case, a lower rectangular opening is covered on the inside by a pointed lintel, graduated in layers. These are connected by about four meters high, rectangular cross-section light shafts with rectangular window openings in the outer wall. These heavily restored shafts and their openings are still very original compared to old descriptions and drawings. In the north, from where the cold winds come, and in the south, where a former older tower stood, no light shafts have been arranged. The opening could previously be closed with shutters. In the south-western area of the hall there is a rectangular opening in the floor, which is bordered by a wooden railing. This is where the upper course of the inner staircase connecting the two floors is located. The mere fact that these stairs were installed together with the restoration of the ground floor ceiling in 1986/1987 suggests that these stairs also originally existed.
Arcatures on the side
two arcatures
Capitals with spandrels of the arcatures
Leaf capitals
Capitals, blanks
Leaf capitals
Leaf capitals
Vault segment with light shaft
Leaf capital
Leaf capital
Mask decoration over the capitals
Above the capitals of the central columns in front of the pillars, cube-shaped plinths are arranged under the rising composite columns, some of which are sculpted with human masks, heads, grotesque or grimacing, expressive or simple-minded. Of the twelve originally available, only nine remained, two of which have not been weathered long.
From the entrance portal you can see from left to right:
- 1. Mask of a bearded old man sticking out his tongue;
- 2nd and 3rd no longer available;
- 4. a recently damaged human mask with horns;
- 5. a mask, half human, half animal, with protruding cheekbones, holds two long strands of horsehair between the teeth, which hang down on either side of the head;
- 6. a human, realistic face with a beard and mustache;
- 7. absent;
- 8. a woman's head, makes a mouthful (traces of red and blue paint);
- 9. Mask with bloated face, half human, half animal, sticking out the tongue, with protruding teeth, deeply sunk eyes, protruding ears;
- 10. Head of a beardless monk, good-natured and roguishly smiling;
- 11. A woman's head with long hair and a timid smile;
- 12.Male face with protruding cheekbones, with a strong mustache and a beard that spreads out in two tufts, the headgear is reminiscent of a crown, perhaps it is the head of a king (?) (Traces of red and blue painting)
One can compare these masks (especially No. 9) with the devilish ones on the pedestals in the Sénanque gallery , those in the cloister of Ganagobie or those on the consoles in the choir of Notre-Dame de l'Ortiguière in Revest-du-Bion .
Mask No. 5
Mask No. 6
Mask No. 10
Mask No. 12
Irregularities in the rotunda
This interesting donjon with its strange ground plan and elevation shows surprising, but perhaps explainable irregularities. For example, the twelve-sided floor plan cannot be arranged in a circle, but in an oval, the largest diameter of which runs along the west-east axis. There is no doubt that it was built at a point in the castrum where it had to be squeezed into existing structures, for example on the older round tower in the south, which one absolutely wanted to preserve, the traces of which are still preserved, although it is still there 1637 grinded in order to win stones for a repair of the château, and the steeply sloping hillside in the north, or maybe an older curtain wall (?).
In any case, the irregularities were not just construction errors made by the builders, who had great difficulties erecting the dome as a result, such as the different dimensions of the vault segments and the almost helical ribs in the last two meters. If you compare this building with other contemporary buildings, especially with the convent buildings of the Abbey of Sénanque , you will notice a number of differences in the quality of construction, to the detriment of the builders of Simiane , which can be attributed to deficiencies in technical skills or even negligence.
Temporal classifications
The rotunda has all the characteristics of a building from the end of the 12th century, perhaps also from the beginning of the 13th century. The construction plan shows that the dome is supported by ribs, which stand under the cantilevered cornice at the beginning of the vault on twin wall columns with capitals and extend over the wall columns to the base of the polygonal hall. This motif can also be found in the apse of the Cistercian church of Bonlieu in the Drôme department , which was not built before the first quarter of the 13th century. This rather rare type of structure appears from the end of the 12th century onwards in the apses of St-Quenin in Vaison-la-Romaine and of Notre-Dame du Groseau in Malaucène . Pentagonal choir heads with pointed arches are characteristic of Provence at the end of the 12th century and even more so for the first years of the 13th century, such as in the churches of Le Thor, La Tour d'Aigues or Bonpas .
The flat segmental arches of the doors exist from the end of the 12th century, as in Ganagobie and Sénanque , but the equilateral pointed arch, three very pronounced in Simiane, did not appear in the area until the 13th century. The cornice also points to the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century: the profile of the vault ribs is seen again in the Notre-Dame church of Le Thor . The quarter of the cantilevered cornice at the base of the dome and the systematically used covings are common in late Romanesque architecture, but not before the end of the 12th century, as in the cloister and dormitory of Sénanque . The heavily decorated column bases represent another characteristic detail for the end of the 12th century, for example in the cloisters of Sénanque and Ganagobie and the Church of Notre-Dame de Salagon . Finally, the zigzag motif of the portal can be found in the refectory of Ganagobie and in the church of Les Baux .
The sculpture is astonishingly similar to the parts of the Sénanque Abbey built at the end of the 12th century , namely the cloister and the monastery building. There you can see the same flat and strongly stylized leaves, especially their borders in a technique that is hardly widespread in the Romanesque sculptures of Provence.
The frequent architectural and stylistic comparisons with Sénanque suggest a close connection between the manor house of Simiane and the famous abbey. Finally, in 1148 the Agoult-Simiane gave the Cistercians their lands in the valley of Sénanque for a new foundation and remained their benefactors. These various facts mean that the construction date of this château, especially the rotunda, was almost exactly between the years 1190 and 1210. Accordingly, it could have been initiated by Guiran de Simiane or by Bertrand Raimbaud Simiane , the founder of the nearby monastery of Valsainte (Vallis Sancta), and perhaps carried out by the builders' hut that was working in the Abbey of Sénanque at around the same time . This building, which was built entirely in the Romanesque spirit, still shows the coming Gothic style.
Purpose of the structure
There is undoubtedly no other medieval building in the Midi , the layout and elevation of which inspired art historians as much as the Rotunda of Simiane .
Apart from some local local historians of the 19th century who saw a "pagan temple of the sun god" in the rotunda, art historians generally regarded this building as a stately chapel over a burial crypt and dated it to the beginning of the 12th century. Only the scientist Henri Révol , who did a lot for the Romanesque architecture of Provence and knew the monument of Simiane well, on which he worked for several years, gave a well-founded interpretation, which was soon forgotten. He saw in the building quite simply the "Donjon or the original chateau of the lords of Simiane" , a hypothesis that the Baron von Mévolhon had already put forward in 1813.
There are relatively many medieval round buildings covered by a dome. Some serve religious purposes, often as a burial site, modeled on the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the others profane, such as a donjon, kitchen or other. Both often show the same construction. Only the equipment of these buildings determines the respective use. The Rotunda of Simiane should not be a religious building, a manor chapel, a burial chapel or both together, because otherwise it would certainly have been mentioned as such in medieval texts about Simiane . Above all, it would have been given religious and not purely artistic equipment.
A tempting and long-held hypothesis saw in the rotunda the grave monument of Raimbaud d'Agoult , a famous warrior who took part in the First Crusade on the Provençal side and whose mausoleum in his homeland reminded of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The ground floor room was a burial place, the upper one a burial chapel with a central altar and with niches in the style of the arcosolia , as the burial place of other members of the lords of Simiane . The turret on top of the building should have contained a death lantern. In fact, this well-known personality died before 1113 as lord of Simiane , co- lord of Apt , of Sault, Caseneuve, d'Agoult and others, brother of Laugier , bishop of Apt , and of Raymond , lord of Sault , who was capitaneus in the very first Years of the 12th century is mentioned, which probably indicated his important leadership role in the crusade. But this building was not built before the last years of the 12th century. One would hardly have waited 80 years to erect this tomb for him. As is emphasized again and again, this mighty tower is actually the keep of the Château of Simiane , which played a special role both militarily and administratively, whereby the actual, much more spacious mansion was always located within the curtain wall of the Castrum , but independent of it . The donjon had a ground floor hall, the exact purpose of which is not documented. Possibly it was also an armory, storage room and "cellar", above which was the much better equipped and more spacious hall, which was reached from the courtyard of the château via a staircase and a monumental entrance. Ornamental sculpture adorns this state and reception hall.
As a place of honor, it probably served a variety of purposes, such as, undoubtedly, for local meetings and official acts. Few documents related to this donjon confirm this assumption. On August 17, 1313, a contract was signed between Raimbaud d'Agoult and the residents of Simiane "in the fort of Simiane" , another, from October 22, 1359, was sealed "in front of the fort of the said chateau near the door" . Finally, this room was also used for the receptions customary in the refined 13th century, in imitation of the customs in the palaces of Forcalquier, Aix and Avignon . Inventories of the contemporary castles of the Luberon make it possible to imagine the interior design of such a building, for example with wall hangings, with some chests, benches, and devices for heating and lighting. The smoke from the fireplace was able to escape through the vertical vent in the turret on the roof. The room was supplied with fresh air via the light shafts in the vaulted vaults.
The fortified donjon also served as a high-altitude observation post, watchtower and, in general, for defense and as a refuge for the castle's crew. For defense, one could reach the upper platform, which was protected by battlements that have now disappeared. The entrance to the “secret staircase” leading upwards within the masonry was on the same level as the passage on the northern defensive wall of the castle and was in direct connection with it. Only a few approaches led to this approach. Like the main entrance to the castle courtyard, these could be defended from above. If the enemy had occupied the great hall, they could be overwhelmed with projectiles through the central opening. After all, the upper platform of the donjon was the defenders' last refuge.
The numerous chateaus from the 11th and 12th centuries in Upper Provence - art history texts mention about thirty in the area around Apt and almost as many in that of Aygues - have mostly been poorly preserved, as most of them were reconstructed in the Middle Ages. There are several from the 13th century, but they often only consist of a simple square donjon, as in Forcalquier, Porchères and Redortie . Only the Tour de Constance in Aigues-Mortes , built shortly after 1241, is astonishingly reminiscent of the entire structure of the Donjon of Simiane , which is a few decades older and is therefore considered the prototype of the Round Donjon in the Midi .
The Château de Simiane is one of the oldest and rarest witnesses to the secular and military architecture of the south of France. An old castle, under the rough exterior of which hides a decoration appropriate to the lords of Simiane , a donjon that dominates the château and the town that developed under his protection.
literature
- Thorsten Droste : Provence. DuMont Buchverlag , Cologne 1986, pp. 277-278, ISBN 3-7701-1727-1 .
- Thorsten Droste: Dauphiné and Haute-Provence. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1992, pp. 253-254, ISBN 3-7701-2408-1 .
- Guy Barruol: Romanesque High Provence. Echter Verlag , Würzburg 1984, pp. 253-283, ISBN 3-429-00878-6 .
Web links
Coordinates: 43 ° 58 ′ 52 ″ N , 5 ° 33 ′ 41 ″ E