Tour des Ursulines

Today the Tour des Ursulines (German: Tower of the Ursulines ), formerly also Tour des Prisonniers (German: Tower of the Prisoners or Prison Tower ) or, after King Francis I , Tour François Ier called Tower in Autun in the French department of Saône-et-Loire (region Burgundy ) is a in the 12th century to protect the former castle erected Riveau or Rivault Donjon or keep . It is the only remnant of this castle, which was razed around 1600 and whose name, derived from the Latin word rivus , means "stream". This name was also borne by the former lords of the castle, and it was transferred to the Quartier Rivault district, which was later created in the area of the former castle courtyard .

The tower has been classified as a Monument historique since September 1994 . It is owned by an artist and houses a privately financed cultural center .

architecture

The medieval keep was built on the foundations of a partially preserved Gallo-Roman city wall . It rises above an octagonal floor plan. Recycled material from previous buildings was built into its masonry. However, after the numerous repairs carried out over the centuries, the walls, apart from the loopholes and the Romanesque arched windows , each covered by a semicircle and separated by an elegant column, show no characteristic features from antiquity, the Gallo-Roman period or the medieval era more on. What is more striking is the stone parapet that was placed on the edge of the closing defensive plate in the 19th century and the three-meter-high statue of the Virgin Mary on a high base behind it. This work by the architect and sculptor Claude Quarré from Autun has been in this location since 1862.

history

Among the first known castle lords are Perreaul de Varennes (near Igornay ) and Perrin Riveau, lord of Petit Montjeu or Montjeu-en-Autun, who owned two thirds of the castle complex in 1327. This was the duke's citadel from the end of the 14th century and served his bailli or capitaine as a residence, later a royal citadel administered by a governor. In the 15th century it served as a fortress and also housed the prison. When, towards the end of the Huguenot Wars, in league with the Catholic League supported by King Philip II of Spain, Autun rebelled against the Calvinist -minded King Henry IV , the fortress withstood the five-week siege by 8,000 soldiers commanded by the Maréchal d'Aumont in 1591 . After the end of the conflict, with the approval of the king, the city had the fortress razed from 1595 to 1602, with the exception of the donjon, in order to spare Autun from future military conflicts.

By decree of January 9, 1647, an area in the former castle courtyard including the tower was given to the Ursulines who had come to Autun from Saint-Chamond in 1617 and initially resided in rue Dufraigne , who devoted themselves to the education of young girls. They kept both until they were expelled in 1791. Their convent, its grounds and the tower were confiscated, nationalized, parceled out and sold in 1793 as national goods. That same year, a company incorporated in the year 1629 by the Ursulines in the rue Dufraigne was chapel destroyed. The different plots have passed through the hands of different owners over the years.

The so-called Tower of the Ursulines has been the property of the French-based Japanese painter and restorer Hisao Takahashi since 1997 , who set up the Franco-Japanese cultural center Center international de la Tour des Ursulines (CITU) in it.

Others

Another, in the northwestern area of the former castle courtyard on the edge of the former moat not far from the cathedral of Autun at today's rue Rivault, acquired Bénigne du Trousset d'Héricourt (1797-1851), Bishop of Autun, Chalon and Mâcon for in 1836 the diocese in order to re-establish the Visitandesses there, who had resided in Autun (today house number 14 on rue aux Raz) from 1624 and were also expelled by the revolution. The convent of the Visitation women (couvent de la Visitation) , newly founded in the rue Rivault in the 19th century , should not be confused with that of the Ursulines. At this earlier location of the medieval maison seigneuriale (15th century) of the lords of Montjeu-en-Autun, the seat of jurisdiction at the time, the buildings of the marquisat de Montjeu, mostly from the 17th century, were located when the Visiting women returned . The nuns added a chapel, consecrated in 1841, and three U-shaped wings (19th century) to the existing building. The open side of the square courtyard thus formed, high above the Gallo-Roman walls, faces west and offers a beautiful view of the city. When the Visiting women left the city in 1964 to settle in Mâcon , the buildings were up for sale again. The premises of the former marquisate were eventually converted into apartments. The three new wings dating from the 19th century have housed a hotel since 1979, which also includes the former Visitation Chapel.

literature

Christophe Besnier: Une construction ducale du XIVe siècle à Autun. La tour des Ursulines. In: Hervé Mouillebouche (ed.): Chastels et maisons fortes III. Actes des journées de castellologie de Bourgogne 2008-2009 (= Chastels et maisons fortes en Bourgogne. ) Center de castellologie de Bourgogne, Chagny 2010, ISBN 978-2-9532994-3-4 , pp. 67-82 ( PDF ; 98, 3 MB).

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Entry of the tower in Base Mérimée , accessed on October 8th.
^ L'ancien couvent de la Visitation à Autun Extract from a plaque attached to the facade, quoted at www.petit-patrimoine.com

46.941666666667 4.2986111111111Coordinates: 46 ° 56 ′ 30 ″ N , 4 ° 17 ′ 55 ″ E

[1] Entry of the tower in Base Mérimée , accessed on October 8th.

[2] L'ancien couvent de la Visitation à Autun Extract from a plaque attached to the facade, quoted at www.petit-patrimoine.com