Valençay Castle
Valençay Castle is a castle in the French town of Valençay in the Indre department , Center-Val de Loire region . Its exterior gives the impression that it was built in the 16th century, although it did not get its final shape until the second half of the 18th century.
Jacyues d'Estampes had made money through marriage and believed that a castle like that of Chambord or Chenonceau would be just right for his new circumstances. The new construction began in 1540, and the parts erected at that time form the origin of the current structure. These were the north-west tower , the adjoining two-storey half of the north wing with an arcade open to the courtyard and the donjon-like entrance pavilion . The second half of the north wing remained single-storey and ended with a much smaller round tower.
An east wing built in the 17th century by a descendant of the first builder no longer exists, but the park wing that was built at the same time still exists today. The round tower from the second half of the 18th century, which closes it off to the south, ultimately goes back to the extremely wealthy general tenant Legrende Villemorien-Lucay. He also had the courtyard-facing facade of the park wing designed "modern" and equipped on the ground floor with colossal pilasters and an open gallery .
In 1803 Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord acquired the castle. As a remnant of the Ancien Régime, the feudal estate with Valençay as the capital of the canton was very well suited to gathering and entertaining political and aristocratic prominence, which the French state was interested in in the Napoleonic era. Talleyrand expanded the space by closing the open gallery of the park wing and completely redesigning the interior in the Empire style.
The most prominent guest from 1808 to 1814 was the Spanish King Ferdinand VII , whom Napoléon had sent into exile in Valençay to the disgraced Talleyrand. For six years the king had to be guarded and taken care of, musically by Jan Ladislav Dussek , among others . It was the time of balls, guitars and theater, with which Napoléon wanted to humiliate the lord of the castle. On December 11, 1813, the Treaty of Valençay was signed here.
Later, when Talleyrand as Minister of Louis XVIII. resigned, he retired entirely to Valençay. In 1829 he finally left the domain to his great-nephew Napoleon-Louis de Talleyrand, who later became Duke of Valençay.
The tour of the palace is limited to a few rooms in the park wing. The furnishings, however, leave a lasting impression and convey a picture of the demands that “the survivors of earlier society” ( Jean Orieux ) made on living comfort at the beginning of the 19th century.
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Coordinates: 47 ° 9 ′ 27 ″ N , 1 ° 33 ′ 48 ″ E