Chenal Castle
| Chenal Castle | ||
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 Chenal Castle |
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| Alternative name (s): | Tour Chenal | |
| Creation time : | 13th Century | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Montjovet | |
| Geographical location | 45 ° 43 '48 .9 " N , 7 ° 40' 18.9" E | |
| Height: | 618 m slm | |
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The Castello di Chenal , also known as Tour Chenal , is the ruin of a hilltop castle in the Chenal district , a few kilometers away from the main town of the Italian municipality of Montjovet in the Aosta Valley .
history
The Castello di Chenal rises inside the Chenal archaeological site, where numerous prehistoric petroglyphs , cup-and-ring stones and crosses, presumably from the Middle Ages , have been preserved.
The castle was built by the Chenal family in the middle of the 13th century ; then it came as a dowry to Alexia , the only daughter of the last lord of Chenal , who she passed on to her husband, Ebalo I. von Challant , a member of the Challant family . The castle, built strategically on a serpentinite rock with a view of the vertical defense system of the "Ospizio Sottile" , is in visual contact with the neighboring Castello di Saint-Germain ; it was their outer bailey and a military checkpoint throughout the Middle Ages.
In 1438 Count Francesco di Challant sold the castle to Amadeus VII of Savoy .
Today, after centuries of neglect, the castle is in ruins.
description
The castle was built from stone, partly from serpentinite, a rock that is quarried on site but is not very suitable for construction due to its low resistance and its strong tendency to flake and break under load, partly from the granite of Mont Blanc , an optimal construction material, which was transported in irregular boulders from the Balteo glacier and was used especially for the load-bearing structures, such as the corners and the entrance arches , in a natural form or hardly hewn.
The part that is left of the building is essentially rectangular in plan, with the outer walls damaged. The most important part of the complex consists of the remains of a tower with a square floor plan and a side length of 6 meters, which served as a watchtower above the valley, in which the main road connecting the region was.
The remains of some outbuildings have also been preserved within the walls.
Individual evidence
- ^ Francesco Prinetti: Andar per sassi. Le rocce alpine fra natura e cultura. Valle d'Aosta, Canavese, Valsesia . Musumeci, Quart 2010. ISBN 978-88-7032-857-8 . Pp. 27 + 51.
- ↑ a b c d Il Castello di Chenal . Finesettimana. Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
- ^ Francesco Prinetti: Andar per sassi. Le rocce alpine fra natura e cultura. Valle d'Aosta, Canavese, Valsesia . Musumeci, Quart 2010. ISBN 978-88-7032-857-8 . Pp. 26 + 188.
- ↑ Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 . P. 23.
swell
- Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 . P. 23.
- André Zanotto: Castelli valdostani . Musumeci, Quart 1980 (2002). ISBN 88-7032-049-9 .
- Francesco Prinetti: Andar per sassi. Le rocce alpine fra natura e cultura. Valle d'Aosta, Canavese, Valsesia . Musumeci, Quart 2010. ISBN 978-88-7032-857-8 .
- Carlo Nigra: Torri e castelli e case forte del Piemonte dal 1000 al secolo XVI. La Valle d'Aosta . Musumeci, Quart 1974. p. 32.
Web links
- Chenal Castle . In: Cultura - Castelli e Torri . Regione Valle d'Aosta. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
- Il castello di Chenal . In: Montjovet . Varasc.it. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
- Il riparo inciso di Chenal . Società Valdostana di Preistoria e di Archeologia / Société valdôtaine de préhistoire et d'archéologie. May 9, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
- Andrea Arcà, Damien Daudryb, Angelo Eugenio Fossatic, Francesca Morellod, Luca Raiterie, Raffaele Carlo de Marinis (editors): Il riparo inciso di Montjovet-Chenal (AO), seimila anni e più di iconica rupestre . In: Le manifestazioni del sacro e l'età del Rame nella regione alpina e nella pianura padana - Atti del Convegno . Euroteam. Pp. 27-66. May 23, 2014. Accessed April 29, 2020.