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The original manor was torched in 1411 to punish owner Jean Marques for an act of sedition. He rebuilt a castle and fortified mill on the site in the 1430s. Subsequently, his indebted heir Pierre Marques sold the castle to Thomas Bohier, Chamberlain for King Charles VIII of France in 1513. Bohier destroyed the existing castle and built an entirely new residence between 1515 and 1521; the work was sometimes overseen by his wife Katherine Briçonnet, who delighted in hosting French nobility, including King François I on two occasions.
Eventually, the château was seized from Bohier's son by François I for unpaid debts to the Crown, and after François' death in 1547, Henry II offered the château as a gift to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers who became fervently attached to the château and its view along the river. She would have the arched bridge constructed, joining the château to its opposite bank. She then oversaw the planting of extensive flower and vegetable gardens along with a variety of fruit trees. Set along the banks of the river, but buttressed from flooding by stone terraces, the exquisite gardens were laid out in four triangles.
Diane de Poitiers was the unquestioned mistress of the castle, but ownership remained with the crown until 1555, when years of delicate legal maneuvers finally yielded possession to her. However, after King Henry II died in 1559, his strong-willed widow and regent Catherine de' Medici had Diane expelled. Because the estate no longer belonged to the crown, she could not seize it outright, but forced Diane to exchange it for the Château Chaumont. Queen Catherine then made Chenonceau her own favorite residence, adding a new series of gardens.
As Regent of France, Catherine would spend a fortune on the château and on spectacular nighttime parties. In 1560, the first ever fireworks display seen in France took place during the celebrations marking the ascension to the throne of Catherine's son François II. The grand gallery, which extended along the existing bridge to cross the entire river, was dedicated in 1577.
On Catherine's death in 1589 the château went to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, wife of King Henri III. At Chenonceau Louise was told of her husband's assassination and she fell into a state of depression, spending the remainder of her days wandering aimlessly along the château's vast corridors dressed in mourning clothes amidst somber black tapestries stitched with skulls and crossbones.
Another mistress took over in 1624, when Gabrielle d'Estrées, the favourite of King Henri IV, inhabited the castle. After that, it was owned by Louise's heir César of Vendôme and his wife, Françoise of Lorraine, Duchess of Vendôme, and passed quietly down the Valois line of inheritance, alternately inhabited and abandoned for more than a hundred years.
Château de Chenonceau was bought by the Duke of Bourbon in 1720. Little by little, he sold off all of the castle's contents. Many of the fine statues ended up at Versailles. The estate itself was finally sold to a squire named Claude Dupin.
View of the arches and west facade of the Pont de Diane over the River CherClaude's wife (daughter of financier Samuel Bernard and grandmother of George Sand), Madame Louise Dupin, brought life back to the castle by entertaining the leaders of The Enlightenment: Voltaire, Montesquieu, Buffon, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, Pierre de Marivaux, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. She saved the château from destruction during the French Revolution, preserving it from being destroyed by the Revolutionary Guard because it was essential to travel and commerce, being the only bridge across the river for many miles. She is said to be the one who changed the spelling of the Château (from Chenonceaux to Chenonceau) to please the villagers during the French Revolution. She dropped the "x" at the end of the Château's name to differentiate what was a symbol of royalty from the Republic. Although no official sources have been found to support this legend, the Château has been since referred to and accepted as Chenonceau.
In 1864, Daniel Wilson, a Scotsman who had made a fortune installing gaslights throughout Paris, bought the château for his daughter. In the tradition of Catherine de' Medici, she would spend a fortune on elaborate parties to such an extent that her finances were depleted and the château was seized and sold to José-Emilio Terry, a Cuban millionaire, in 1891. Terry sold it in 1896 to a family member, Francisco Terry, and in 1913, the Menier family, famous for their chocolates, bought the château and still own it to this day.
During World War I the gallery was used as a hospital ward; during the Second War it was a means of escaping from the Nazi occupied zone on one side of the River Cher to the "free" Vichy zone on the opposite bank.
In 1951, the Menier family entrusted the château's restoration to Bernard Voisin, who brought the dilapidated structure and the gardens (ravaged in the Cher River flood in 1940) back to a reflection of its former glory.
An architectural mixture of late Gothic and early Renaissance, Château de Chenonceau and its gardens are open to the public. Other than the Royal Palace of Versailles, Chenonceau is the most visited château in France.
The original manor was torched in 1411 to punish owner Jean Marques for an act of sedition. He rebuilt a castle and fortified mill on the site in the 1430s. Subsequently, his indebted heir Pierre Marques sold the castle to Thomas Bohier, Chamberlain for King Charles VIII of France in 1513. Bohier destroyed the existing castle and built an entirely new residence between 1515 and 1521; the work was sometimes overseen by his wife Katherine Briçonnet, who delighted in hosting French nobility, including King François I on two occasions.
Eventually, the château was seized from Bohier's son by François I for unpaid debts to the Crown, and after François' death in 1547, Henry II offered the château as a gift to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers who became fervently attached to the château and its view along the river. She would have the arched bridge constructed, joining the château to its opposite bank. She then oversaw the planting of extensive flower and vegetable gardens along with a variety of fruit trees. Set along the banks of the river, but buttressed from flooding by stone terraces, the exquisite gardens were laid out in four triangles.
Diane de Poitiers was the unquestioned mistress of the castle, but ownership remained with the crown until 1555, when years of delicate legal maneuvers finally yielded possession to her. However, after King Henry II died in 1559, his strong-willed widow and regent Catherine de' Medici had Diane expelled. Because the estate no longer belonged to the crown, she could not seize it outright, but forced Diane to exchange it for the Château Chaumont. Queen Catherine then made Chenonceau her own favorite residence, adding a new series of gardens.
As Regent of France, Catherine would spend a fortune on the château and on spectacular nighttime parties. In 1560, the first ever fireworks display seen in France took place during the celebrations marking the ascension to the throne of Catherine's son François II. The grand gallery, which extended along the existing bridge to cross the entire river, was dedicated in 1577.
On Catherine's death in 1589 the château went to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, wife of King Henri III. At Chenonceau Louise was told of her husband's assassination and she fell into a state of depression, spending the remainder of her days wandering aimlessly along the château's vast corridors dressed in mourning clothes amidst somber black tapestries stitched with skulls and crossbones.
Another mistress took over in 1624, when Gabrielle d'Estrées, the favourite of King Henri IV, inhabited the castle. After that, it was owned by Louise's heir César of Vendôme and his wife, Françoise of Lorraine, Duchess of Vendôme, and passed quietly down the Valois line of inheritance, alternately inhabited and abandoned for more than a hundred years.
Château de Chenonceau was bought by the Duke of Bourbon in 1720. Little by little, he sold off all of the castle's contents. Many of the fine statues ended up at Versailles. The estate itself was finally sold to a squire named Claude Dupin.
View of the arches and west facade of the Pont de Diane over the River CherClaude's wife (daughter of financier Samuel Bernard and grandmother of George Sand), Madame Louise Dupin, brought life back to the castle by entertaining the leaders of The Enlightenment: Voltaire, Montesquieu, Buffon, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, Pierre de Marivaux, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. She saved the château from destruction during the French Revolution, preserving it from being destroyed by the Revolutionary Guard because it was essential to travel and commerce, being the only bridge across the river for many miles. She is said to be the one who changed the spelling of the Château (from Chenonceaux to Chenonceau) to please the villagers during the French Revolution. She dropped the "x" at the end of the Château's name to differentiate what was a symbol of royalty from the Republic. Although no official sources have been found to support this legend, the Château has been since referred to and accepted as Chenonceau.
In 1864, Daniel Wilson, a Scotsman who had made a fortune installing gaslights throughout Paris, bought the château for his daughter. In the tradition of Catherine de' Medici, she would spend a fortune on elaborate parties to such an extent that her finances were depleted and the château was seized and sold to José-Emilio Terry, a Cuban millionaire, in 1891. Terry sold it in 1896 to a family member, Francisco Terry, and in 1913, the Menier family, famous for their chocolates, bought the château and still own it to this day.
During World War I the gallery was used as a hospital ward; during the Second War it was a means of escaping from the Nazi occupied zone on one side of the River Cher to the "free" Vichy zone on the opposite bank.
In 1951, the Menier family entrusted the château's restoration to Bernard Voisin, who brought the dilapidated structure and the gardens (ravaged in the Cher River flood in 1940) back to a reflection of its former glory.
An architectural mixture of late Gothic and early Renaissance, Château de Chenonceau and its gardens are open to the public. Other than the Royal Palace of Versailles, Chenonceau is the most visited château in France.
The Château de Chenonceau is a manor house near the small village of Chenonceaux, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. It was built on the site of an old mill on the River Cher, sometime before its first mention in writing in the 11th century. The current manor was designed by the French Renaissance architect Philibert Delorme.
In rebuilding the Chenonceau château in the 16th century, Thomas Bohier razed the castle-keep and the fortified mill of the Marques family, erecting the new château upon the piers of the former mill and keeping only the ancient donjon: The Marques Tower, which he transformed in Renaissance style. The forecourt reproduces the layout of the former medieval castle demarcated by the moats.
Reconstitution de l'époque de Catherine de Médicis, le labyrinthe circulaire de plus de 1 500m2, planté de 2000 ifs (taxus baccatta), d'un mètre trente de hauteur environ, est situé dans la clairière du parc.
Une charmille l'entoure, taillée en 70 arcades dont les espaces libres accueillent de somptueux vases plantés de buis et de lierres.
Au centre, une gloriette surélevée, construite d'après un dessin ancien, permet d'avoir une vue d'ensemble et de pouvoir admirer le tracé. Les visiteurs pénètrent dans le labyrinthe par l'une des cinq entrées, cependant seuls deux chemins mènent à la gloriette. Elle est habillée d'osier vivant, et surmontée d'une statue de Vénus. À ses côtés, surmontée au sommet d'un tronc en bois de cèdre, une statue représentant une nymphe portant Bacchus enfant sera bientôt envahie de Jasmin.Conçue en bois d'irroco, bois très résistant aux intempéries, elle vieillira en prenant une teinte gris argenté, comme le chêne.
Ce labyrinthe permet de redécouvrir les caryatides que Catherine de Médicis avait fait ajouter au centre de la façade du château.
Celles-ci furent retirées 300 ans plus tard par Madame Pelouze, pour rendre au monument la pureté de son architecture originelle.
Aujourd'hui, les 4 caryatides retrouvent leur noblesse en toile de fond du labyrinthe.
Votre itinéraire au château de Chenonceau croisera sûrement, au centre de la charmille, le chemin du labyrinthe, le plus bel endroit pour se perdre et rêver.
On pénètre dans la chapelle à partir de la salle des Gardes, par une porte en chêne surmontée d'une statue de la Vierge. Ses vantaux représentent quant à eux le Christ et Saint Thomas et reprennent les paroles de l'Évangile selon Saint Jean : « Avance ton doigt ici », « Tu es mon Seigneur et mon Dieu ».
Mme Pelouze fit ouvrir les fenêtres couplées qui furent munies de verrières d'après les dessins d'un certain Steinheil45. Les vitraux détruits en 1944, ont été remplacés par des œuvres de Max Ingrand en 1954. On voit dans la loggia de droite, une Vierge à l'Enfant en marbre de Carrare par Mino da Fiesole. À droite de l'autel, une crédence ouvragée ornée de la devise des Bohier.
En 1890 le céramiste tourangeau Édouard Avisseau (1831-1911) réalisa pour le château un bas-relief La Vierge aux poissons87.
Au mur, des peintures religieuses : La Vierge au voile bleu par Il Sassoferrato, Jésus prêchant devant Alfonso et Isabella par Alonzo Cano, un Saint-Antoine de Padoue par Murillo, et une Assomption par Jean Jouvenet. L'historien Robert Ranjard précise88 : « L'oratoire conserve, gravées dans la pierre de ses murs, des sentences écrites en vieil écossais […] mystérieux graffitis laissés par des hôtes inconnus au temps de Diane de Poitiers ». En entrant à droite, une sentence datée de 1543 : « La colère de l'Homme n'accomplit pas la justice de Dieu », et une autre de 1546 : « Ne soyez pas vaincus par le Mal ».
Dominant la nef, une tribune royale donnant sur « la chambre des Cinq Reines », au premier étage, datant de 1521.
Cette chapelle fut sauvegardée pendant la Révolution, Madame Dupin ayant eu l'idée d'en faire une réserve de bois de chauffage.
The Château de Chenonceau is a French château spanning the River Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire valley
The Chateau de Chenonceau is on the River Cher in the Loire Valley. Often referred as the "Chateau des Dames" (Lady's Castle) due to its succession of female owners. Unfortunately it was undergoing extensive restoration (hence the tight framing).
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