Ussé Castle
The Ussé Castle is a castle in the French town of Rigny-Ussé about ten kilometers north-east of Chinon on the southern bank of the Indre , a tributary of the Loire . It is one of the most famous of the French Loire castles and is a popular destination on the edge of the Chinon forest in the Indre-et-Loire department , Center-Val de Loire region . It is said to have inspired the French writer Charles Perrault during one of his stays for his story La belle au bois dormant (German: The sleeping beauty in the forest ), the French version of Sleeping Beauty .
Today's castle goes back to a medieval castle, on whose foundations a new complex was built in the 15th century and expanded in the 16th century. After changes in the 17th and 19th centuries, Ussé Castle is now the epitome of a romantic fairytale castle. It is in March 1927 as a monument historique under monument protection . The chapel belonging to the complex was added to the list of monuments in April 1931 . It was followed in January 1951 by the palace park with its orangery building .
history
The beginnings
The current complex goes back to a medieval complex that was founded in the context of the disputes between the two large counties of Anjou and Blois . Ussé - also spelled Ucerum, Uceum, Uciacus and Uceium over the centuries - was on the border between these two territories and was therefore always contested. However, the place was already settled in the early days, which Gallo-Roman finds prove. It occupied a strategically important point from which both the road to Chinon and the shipping traffic on the Indre and Loire could be controlled.
In 1004 Guelduin I was first mentioned in a document in 950 (also written Gelduin, Gilduin, Geudouin and Geulduin), called the devil of Saumur , Lord of Ussé. He was a loyal vassal of the Counts of Blois Thibault le Tricheur and his son Eudes I and fought for them against their adversary Fulko Nerra , the Count of Anjou. After he had lost Saumur Castle in the fight against Fulko, he had the castle in Ussé - at that time still a wooden structure - expanded and fortified. His son Guelduin II, who succeeded his father as Lord of Ussé from 1040, had a first fortified structure built out of stone. Around 1350, Jeanne d'Ussé married Briant IV. De Montéjean and brought Ussé to her husband.
Property of the de Bueils and the d'Espinays
In 1462 the admiral Jean V. de Bueil was lord of the castle of Ussé. How the plant came into his possession has not yet been clarified. What is certain, however, is that in that year he began to build today's castle on the foundations of the old castle from the 11th century. It was built at the same time as the Chaumont , Langeais and Le Plessis-Bourré castles . Jeanne's son Antoine married Jeanne de Valois in 1461, daughter of the French king Charles VII and his mistress Agnès Sorel . He led the construction of his late father in 1477 continued on and completed in 1480 to keep . He also had today's east wing built and connected to the keep to the west via an arcade . Around 1500 this corridor, which was open to the inner courtyard, was raised to a two-story gallery , the upper floor of which was closed. No statement can be made about how the former logis , today's west wing of the castle, looked like at that time , because it was completely changed in the following centuries. In 1485 the construction of the four-winged castle with its round corner towers was well advanced, but the interior was not yet completely finished. In this still unfinished state, the heavily indebted Antoine de Bueil sold the facility in November 1485 to Jacques d'Espinay, the chamberlain of the Kings Louis XI , who came from the Breton nobility . and Charles VIII. As the grandson of a Visconti , he was also extensively with the later King Louis XII. related. Together with his son Charles, he completed the east wing and had the current west wing of the complex completely renewed around 1515-1525. When Jacques d'Espinay died in 1523, Charles granted his father a wish laid down in his will and, together with his wife Lucrèce de Pons, had a collegiate church and today's castle chapel built in the style of the early French Renaissance between 1523 and 1535 . It was to serve as the future burial place of his family and was consecrated on August 11, 1538. As a result, a collegiate foundation consisting of six canons was founded in the same year .
After Charles' death in 1535, his son René became the owner of the castle. In order to be able to pay off his high debts, he sold the complex in 1557 to Suzanne de Bourbon, daughter of Louis' de Bourbon , Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon, and widow of Claude de Rieux et de Rochefort, Count of Harcourt . On her death she bequeathed it to her daughter Louise , who married René II. De Lorraine, marquis d'Elbeuf in 1554 . Their daughter Marie brought the castle to Charles de Lorraine, duc d'Aumale , whom she married in 1578. Through the heiress Anne , Seigneurie and the castle came to her husband Henri I. de Savoie, duc de Nemours , in 1618 , who was replaced as owner by Alphonse Henri de Montluc, marquis de Balagny.
Under the Bernin de Valentinay family
In 1659, Thomas Bernin, marquis de Valentinay, bought the property. Under him and his son Louis I, the palace complex underwent fundamental changes that gave it its current appearance. Because Thomas' grandson Louis II. De Bernin married the younger daughter of the famous French fortress builder Vaubans , Jeanne-Françoise, in January 1691, the renovations carried out in the 17th century were often ascribed to him, but this was not true. Although Vauban stayed at Ussé Castle several times, the abbot of Saint-Hilaire (Saint-Hilarion), a cousin of the castle owner, was probably responsible for the majority of the changes. The redesigns included the classical remodeling of the west wing and the south gallery, the bricking up of the former main entrance on the east side and its relocation to the main courtyard . In order to be able to enjoy an uninterrupted view of the Loire Valley, the north wing of the castle was also torn down under Thomas or Louis I. de Bernin. Instead, Louis I had the so-called pavilion built at the north end of the west wing on the occasion of the marriage of his son Louis II towards the end of the 17th century . Work on it was finished in 1699. In addition, terraced baroque gardens based on designs by André Le Nôtres were completed on the north side of the castle and an orangery was built in 1664 . The collegiate church has not changed as much over the years as the castle buildings, but it also underwent a change during the 17th century: a side chapel was added to the north.
In April 1692 Ussé was raised to a margraviate ( French marquisate ), but lost this status in September of the same year. A renewed and this time permanent elevation to marquisate takes place again in May 1701 in favor of Louis II. Bernin.
From 1780 until today
The castle remained in the possession of the Bernins de Valentinay until February 19, 1780. At that time it was acquired by Jules Hercule Mériadec de Rohan , Duke of Montbazon . But since he was heavily in debt, his creditors had the property sold to a Monsieur de Chalâbre for 902,000 livres in 1785 . His son Jean-Louis Roger de Chalâbre sold the palace complex in 1807 to the Duke of Duras, Amedée Bretagne Malo de Durfort. His heir, Félicie, married Count Auguste du Vergier de La Rochejaquelein for the second time and was therefore briefly called Comtesse de La Rochejaquelein . From 1838 to 1883 the Comtesse was the owner of the castle and during this time had numerous conversions and changes made in the neo-Gothic style , for example on the courtyard facade of the east wing. On her death, she bequeathed the facility to her great-nephew, Count Bertrand de Blacas. His descendants are still the owners of the castle and use it as a residence, which is why only part of the building can be viewed from the inside.
description
The complex consists of the castle building, a chapel to the east of it, the former horse stables, in which there is now a carriage exhibition, including a saddlery and an orangery building in the gardens.
Castle building
The ensemble of buildings made of white limestone , which was extracted in the local region, and its slate-covered roofs are roughly U-shaped today. Its exterior looks very defensive thanks to its round corner towers and a surrounding, covered walkway . The protruding corridor has machicolations and rests on three-tier console stones. Its interior is now used to present scenes from the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. The façades facing the courtyard, on the other hand, are more friendly.
With its decor and architectural details, Ussé Castle marks the transition from flamboyant to Renaissance, although some decorative elements are ingredients of the 19th century.
The facades of the individual buildings clearly illustrate the different construction periods: While the east wing shows the Gothic features of the 15th century, the facades of the west and south wing show features of the Renaissance. The facade of the so-called pavilion is presented in the tradition of the classicist baroque style .
East wing
Although the courtyard-facing facade of the east wing looks Gothic, the oldest structure of the building dates from the French Renaissance, for example some cross-frame windows . The architectural components in the flamboyant style, such as the decoration of the lintels or the balcony , result from changes during the 19th century. However, an engraving from 1855 proves that the neo-Gothic elements were not yet present in that year. A small gable facing the courtyard is crowned by a hexagonal lantern , which previously served as the bell tower of the palace chapel in the east wing.
West wing, south wing and pavilion
The windows of the west wing are framed by pilasters , as are the portholes in the attic from the first quarter of the 16th century . Their round gables are crowned by small niches, which are supported on both sides by several buttresses .
The southern wing building, which connects the east with the west wing, grew out of an arcade open to the courtyard, which was first raised to a two-story gallery and then expanded into an independent wing with four floors. Its facade is structured by pillars with attached pinnacles . These pillars are in the lower part the Gothic buttresses of the former arcade, of which only one of the eight round arches at the southeast end of the wing is reminiscent. Today's large windows go back to a renovation in the 17th century. On the first floor they are crowned alternately by triangular and round ornamental gables.
At its northern end, the west wing is adjoined by a classical building called the pavilion . The two-storey building has a flat roof that serves as a terrace and is surrounded by a parapet with balusters .
Keep
The initially free-standing keep is the oldest part of the castle. Its barrel vault on the ground floor as well as its cornices and wall connections date from the late 15th century. The tower stands on the remains of the castle's predecessor and has a battlement with machicolations on the fourth floor.
Notre Dame d'Ussé chapel
The castle chapel is consecrated to St. Anne and used to be a collegiate church. Many of the great Loire castles from the 15th and 16th centuries have their own collegiate church, which, unlike the actual castle chapel, was reserved for the canons of the chapter maintained by the castle owner . The chapel building is an example of sacred architecture in the transition from Gothic to Renaissance, because while its architectural core was still built according to Gothic principles, it also has Renaissance décor. Its high four-bay nave with its six-part pointed arches ends in a five-sided choir .
The low portal of the chapel is crowned by a round-arched tympanum with a shell, which was a popular motif during the Renaissance. Above it is a tall, narrow pointed arched window with a rose window , which is divided by a slim dwarf column. Its robes are decorated with arabesques and medallions depicting apostles . They are the first examples of medallions with fully sculpted busts in France. At the corners of the portal side there are buttresses, which have candelabra ornaments instead of the usual Gothic pinnacles at their upper ends. The corner pillars and a relief on the lintel of the chapel portal have the initials C and L. These are repeated inside the chapel and refer to the two builders Charles d'Espinay and his wife Lucrèce de Pons.
The sculptural decoration in the Renaissance style is repeated inside on the likewise richly ornamented sacristy door . In addition to an altar from the 18th century, choir stalls from around 1535 are part of the interior. It is richly carved in the form of figures and arabesques and comes from the school of Jean Goujon . Further art-historically valuable pieces of equipment are a Tuscan triptych from the 15th century and a statue of the Madonna from the middle of the same century in the southern choir chapel. It consists of glazed terracotta - so-called majolica - and is attributed to Luca della Robbia .
Gardens and park
The castle stands on a hill divided by terraces, which also supports the formal part of the castle park. Although the terracing was not created according to Vauban's plans, the large terrace with the baroque garden is traditionally called the Vauban terrace. The French garden consists of two lawns that are laid out around a round water basin with a fountain. They are bordered by flower beds that are surrounded by low box hedges . There are also orange trees in the garden, some of which date from before 1789 and are therefore older than 200 years.
There are two Lebanon cedars near the castle chapel , which the writer François-René de Chateaubriand is said to have given to his patroness and then lady of the castle, Claire Lechat de Kersaint, as a gift in 1808.
inside rooms
ground floor
Nine rooms inside the castle are now used for museum purposes and are therefore open to visitors. In addition to old furniture, a collection of weapons, old tapestries and numerous paintings, life-size dolls with valuable authentic clothing from the 18th and 19th centuries can be seen in the rooms.
The tour begins with the entrance hall in the east wing. It dates from the 15th century, but was changed in the 16th and 19th centuries. Its wooden spiral staircase was only installed under the Comtesse de La Rochejaquelein .
To the north of the entrance hall is the so-called Gardensaal (French: salle des gardes ). It is the original entrance area of the late medieval castle complex. The former portal in the east wall, to which a drawbridge previously led, has now been replaced by a window. The ceiling of the room is painted using the trompe-l'œil technique and dates from the 17th century. It looks like it is made of marble . A collection of oriental weapons is on display in the room , which was brought together in the 19th century by Count Stanislas de Blancas.
To the south of the entrance hall is the former castle chapel , which is now called Salon Vauban . The room is supported by thick buttresses, and its apse is one of the oldest surviving structures in the east wing. You can see Brussels tapestries from the 16th century and furniture from the beginning of the 18th century in the style of the Regency . The room was completely restored in the winter of 1995.
From the Salon Vauban you get to the former castle kitchen to the south of it, which is the oldest room in the entire castle and has a barrel vault ceiling. There is a 17th century Flemish tapestry from Oudenaarde . A secret entrance leads to underground rooms that were used as hiding places in uncertain times. From there today collapsed passages led into the forest of Chinon.
The large gallery ( French grande gallery ) occupies the ground floor of the entire south wing. The floor is tiled with black and white tiles, the long wall is hung with Brussels tapestries from the 17th century. They were made based on models by the painter David Teniers the Younger . In the middle is a copy of a bust of Louis XIV made of terracotta. The original by Gian Lorenzo Bernini is in the Palace of Versailles .
The stairwell in the west wing goes from the Great Gallery . The staircase with its wrought-iron railing was designed by François Mansart in the 17th century and replaced a staircase in an octagonal stair tower that used to be in the southwest corner of the courtyard.
The dining room joins the stairwell to the north. After it was restored by the summer of 2005, it now shows furnishings in the style of the 18th century.
First floor
Via the staircase, the visitor arrives at the anteroom (French: antichambre ) designed in the 17th century to the royal bedroom (French: chambre du Roi ). This was established when the Ussé Castle was owned by the Duke of Rohan-Montbazon. Such bedrooms, reserved for the French monarch, were common in the castles of the French pairs . The King's Room Ussés was set up for Louis XIV, but he never honored the castle with a visit, so the room was never used. Part of the bedroom is separated from the rest of the room by six Corinthian columns with gilded capitals . The flooring of the room consists of oak parquet , while the walls are covered with red silk wallpaper. They come from workshops in Tours and show Chinese motifs that became fashionable in the 18th century. The same fabric was used for the Louis-Seize- style bed , which is the eye-catcher of the room. The shape of the canopy in the Polish style (French: à la polonaise) was chosen in memory of the French Queen Maria Leszczyńska , who was of Polish descent.
Home and inspiration of poets and writers
In the multi-towered castle, which has been the epitome of a “romantic, medieval fairytale castle” in France since the 19th century, various famous poets and writers stayed in the course of its history. The fairy tale collector Charles Perrault, a friend of the Bernin de Valentinay family, is said to have been inspired by the castle for his French version of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale during a visit to Ussé.
Jeanne-Françoise Le Prestre de Vauban's guests included Jean-Baptiste Rousseau and Antoinette-Thérèse Deshoulières . Her daughter-in-law Anne Théodore de Carvoisin did the same and invited Voltaire to stay with her so that he stayed for some time in the castle. From December 1722 to February 1723 he wrote part of his work La Henriade there . Claire de Duras , wife of Amedée de Durfort, continued the literary tradition while she lived at Ussé Castle from 1807 to 1813. There she wrote the two novels Ourika and Edouard and was buried in the castle chapel after her death.
Another well-known author who stayed temporarily at Ussé Castle was François-René de Chateaubriand. In the wife of Amedée Bretagne Malos de Durfort, Claire Lechat de Kersaint, he found a deep admirer who invited him to Ussé several times. He worked there on his Mémoires d'outre-tombe (German: Memories after death ).
literature
- Jean-Pierre Babelon: Châteaux de France au siècle de la Renaissance . Flammarion, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-08-012062-X , pp. 133-135 .
- Jean-Luc Beaumont: Chronology of the châteaux de France. Pays de la Loire et Center . Ed. TSH, Le Cannet 2004, ISBN 2-907854-29-1 .
- Nicolas Beytout (Ed.): Château d'Ussé. (= Connaissance des Arts. Special issue No. 454). Société Francaise de Promotion Artistique, Paris 2011, ISSN 1242-9198 .
- Bernard Champigneulle: Loire castles . 6th edition. Prestel, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7913-0276-0 , pp. 260-262, 271-272.
- Susanne Girndt (Red.): Castles of the Loire . Bassermann, Niedernhausen 1996, ISBN 3-8094-0290-7 , pp. 44-47.
- Wilfried Hansmann : The Loire Valley. Castles, churches and cities in the «Garden of France» . 2nd Edition. DuMont, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-7701-3555-5 , pp. 175-177.
- Herbert Kreft, Josef Müller-Marein, Helmut Domke: Jardin de la France. Castles on the Loire . CW Niemeyer, Hameln 1967, pp. 186-187.
- Jacques Levron, Fred Mayer: The most beautiful castles in the Loire . Silva-Verlag, Zurich 1977, pp. 78-81, 84.
- Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos, Robert Polidori : Castles in the Loire Valley . Könemann, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-89508-597-9 , p. 330-335 .
- Eckhard Philipp: The Loire Valley . 3. Edition. Goldstadtverlag, Pforzheim 1993, ISBN 3-87269-078-7 , pp. 113-116.
- Georges Poisson : Castles of the Loire . Goldmann, Munich 1964, pp. 120-123.
- René Polette: Lovable Loire castles . Morstadt, Kehl 1996, ISBN 3-88571-266-0 , pp. 102-104.
- Janine and Pierre Soisson: The Loire Castles . Parkland, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-88059-186-5 , pp. 62-63.
- Françoise Vibert-Guigue (Ed.): Center, châteaux de la Loire . Hachette, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-01-015564-5 , pp. 165-166.
- Ussé. When Paris was still called Lutetia and Tours Caesarodunum, Ussé was Uceum . Information booklet. Graphic Riviere, Avoine o.J.
Web links
- Castle website (French)
- 360 ° panorama of the large garden terrace (mov-file; 251 kB)
- Entry PA00098034 and entry IA00011321 in Base Mérimée (French)
- Photos from Base Mémoire
- Photo collection
- Nicolas Mémeteau: Ussé (37) (French)
Ussé Castle as a 3D model in SketchUp's 3D warehouse
Footnotes
- ↑ Ussé. When Paris was still Lutetia ... n.d., p. 2.
- ↑ a b c d J.-L. Beaumont: Chronology of the châteaux de France . 2004.
- ^ W. Hansmann: The valley of the Loire. 2000, p. 176.
- ↑ Ussé. When Paris was still Lutetia ... n.d., p. 4.
- ^ F. Vibert-Guigue: Center, châteaux de la Loire. 1991, p. 165.
- ↑ J.-P. Babelon: Châteaux de France au siècle de la Renaissance. 1989, p. 133.
- ↑ a b 37-online.net ( Memento from January 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ According to u. a. W. Hansmann: The Loire Valley. 2000, p. 176. The information on the construction time of the chapel vary in the various publications. The years 1520 and 1521 are also given as the year construction began.
- ↑ J.-M. Pérouse de Montclos: Castles in the Loire Valley. 1997, p. 330.
- ↑ Other sources name Thomas' son Louis I as the buyer.
- ↑ J.-M. Pérouse de Montclos: Castles in the Loire Valley. 1997, p. 334.
- ↑ Ussé. When Paris was still Lutetia ... n.d., p. 8.
- ↑ Ussé. When Paris was still Lutetia ... n.d., p. 12.
- ↑ B. Champigneulle: Loire castles. 1980, p. 261.
- ↑ Armand Lanoux: Castles of the Loire. Sun, Paris 1980, ISBN 2-7191-0106X , p. 165.
- ↑ J. Levron, F. Mayer: The most beautiful castles of the Loire, 1977, p. 78.
- ^ E. Philipp: The valley of the Loire , p. 115.
- ^ E. Philipp: The valley of the Loire. 1993, p. 116.
- ↑ a b Ussé. When Paris was still Lutetia ... n.d., p. 27.
- ^ J. Levron, F. Mayer: The most beautiful castles of the Loire. 1977, p. 81.
- ↑ jardinsentouraine.com ( Memento of July 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b Le château d'Ussé . Information sheet of the castle.
- ↑ Castles on the Loire . Michelin, Landau-Mörlheim 2005, ISBN 2-06-711591-X , p. 316.
- ↑ a b Information on the information board in the castle.
- ^ A b c W. H. Ward: Ussé, France. The Seat of M. le Comte B. de Blacas . In: Country Life . Volume 36, No. 922, September 5, 1914, p. 328.
- ↑ correspondance-voltaire.de , accessed on December 20, 2008.
Coordinates: 47 ° 14 ′ 59 ″ N , 0 ° 17 ′ 28 ″ E