The Loire Valley - La Vallee de la Loire

Loire Valley Cycling Tours and Holidays

2011-05-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

Loire Valley - Cycling Tours in the Loire Valley

The Loire Valley in France is a beautiful region for a cycling holiday or short break. At over 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) long, the Loire is the longest river in France. It has its source in the mountains of the Massif Central in Central France from where it winds its way to the Atlantic Ocean. It is ideal terrain for a cycling holiday or tour as the river follows mainly a gentle incline through plains and low hills, and the road traffic is generally very light.

Loire Valley - Chateau de Chenonceau

Apart from being very beautiful, the Loire region is particularly famous for its 300+ chateaux. Built by the Kings and the aristocracy of France since medieval times, they have a rich history, often involving plots and assassinations, but are now owned either by the State or private families who may or not be members of the French aristocracy.

As can be seen from this DVD Loire Valley cycling tours usually concentrate on the central region of the Loire valley, as this is the area where the chateaux offer the easiest access and the terrain is either gently undulating or flat.

The best time to go cycling in the Loire Valley is from June through September, as this is when it is less likely to rain, although it may at times get very hot.

Things to see : the Châteaux of course. Some of them are still in their original form, as heavily fortified feudal castles, some have been demolished and re-built or converted into Renaissance chateaux, and some were built as Renaissance chateaux from the outset.

Apart from the chateaux, the rest of the region is also quite stunning and of course there is also plenty of fine French food and wine to be enjoyed.

Loire Valley Chateaux to visit during your cycling holiday (in no particular order)

Azay-le-Rideau - on an island between two branches of the Indre River.

Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau - Loire Valley

Chenonceau - one of the largest and most beautiful of the chateaux.

Chambord - amazing large chateau with park and woods, double helix staircase.

Chateau de Chambord

Chateau d'Ussé (the castle that inspired the story of Sleeping Beauty)- located on the banks of the River Indre, near the Chinon Forest, 14 km from Chinon and 33 km from Tours.

Chateau de Blois - the castle in which King Henri III had his rival Henri Duc de Guise asassinated in 1588.

Brissac - built in the XIth century as a fortified castle, by the Count of Anjou, Foulques Nerra. Given to Guillaume des Roches after he defeated the English, by King Philippe Auguste.

Chateau de Cheverny

Cheverny - in addition to its great history, Cheverny is also famous as being the inspiration for the "Château de Moulinsart" (Marlinspike Hall) in Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin. It was first mentioned in "Le Secret de la Licorne" ("The Secret of the Unicorn").

Cost of a Cycling Tour

So how much will a cycling holiday in the Loire Valley cost? Well, anything from $10 a day if you like camping, to the sky's the limit if you like stopping off in luxury hotels and making frequent visits to the local French hostelry.

Where do you get the bike from ? There are plenty of bike hire companies in the Loire Valley (in Blois, Tours and Anjou and no doubt elsewhere), or you can bring your own bike on a train from Paris in a "housse". Paris is only about 90 minutes away on the TGV.

Sasha Bates said in the Daily Telegraph of her cycling tour round the Loire Valley with her husband :

" it's almost impossible to get lost on the well-signed cycling route; the gardens are fantastic; the Loire countryside is mercifully flat and divertingly beautiful; the food and wine are exquisite; and – best of all – there was the miracle of reaching our hotel every night to find our luggage waiting for us. Oh, and if you really can't help yourselves, the chateaux aren't bad either."

There are several companies that organise inclusive tours of the Loire Valley by bike. Loire à Vélo website (www.loire-a-velo.fr) - Location de Vélos (www.locationdevelos.com); Biking France (www.randovelo.fr); or the luxurious River Loire (www.riverloire.com). There is also the Loire Valley Tourist Board (visaloire.com) - see links.

Loire Valley - Chateau de Brissac

2011-04-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

The Loire Valley - The Château de Brissac

Brissac-Quincé is a French commune in the Maine-et-Loire District of the Loire Valley, and home to the Château de Brissac, which is situated fifteen kilometres from Angers and has been a listed building since 1958.

The chateau was built in the 11th century as a fortified castle, by the Count of Anjou, Foulques Nerra. King Philippe Auguste gave it to Guillaume des Roches after he defeated the English.

Chateau de Brissac - Loire Valley

In 1455, Pierre de Brézé a minister of King Charles VII, rebuilt it. It was subsequently inherited by his son, but after killing his adulterous wife in the castle, he left it.

It was bought in 1502 by René de Cossé who King François 1st had made governor of Maine and Anjou. The castle entered then the Cossé family who then changed their name to Brissac.

The castle was besieged during the Wars of Religion by Henri IV, as the Lord of the Castle Charles de Cossé was a supporter of the “Parti de la Ligue”. He later, however, decided to rally the King’s cause and was given the titles of Maréchal de France and Duke of Brissac. Under the supervision of the architect Jacques Corbineau, he undertook to rebuild the castle and it was at this point that it became an imposing building, in fact it was at the time the tallest castle in France. The influence of the baroque style can be seen from the front; it has seven floors and two hundred rooms.

The château remained in the Cossé-Brissac Family until 1792. During the French Revolution it served to station the ‘Bleus’ of Vendée. The revolutionaries later ransacked it and it remained in that derelict state until 1844. The castle was eventually returned to the Cossé-Brissac family who restored it and continue to occupy it today.

The Marquis de Brissac’s widow created a theatre in 1890, which was restored in 1983. Each year, the Festival de la Vallée de la Loire is organized in the Château.

Architecture of the Château de Brissac

Flanked by the two towers from the old 15th century castle, the front of the castle, which was built in the Louis XIII style remained unfinished as a result of the wars of religion. In these troubled times the castle was severely damaged and became uninhabitable for a long period.

Chateau de Brissac - Loire Valley

Work to rebuild it started in 1600. As the work on the building of the new castle progressed, the old one was destroyed. But in 1621 the first Duke died and the work was stopped and never resumed. So the history of the building of the castle, as the actual owner’s grandfather once said, is that “Brissac is a new castle half built in an old castle half-destroyed.”

The Grande Galerie, which is the principal room in the castle, is reserved for festivities. Prestigious receptions and candle-lit galas are held there. Its ceiling is covered with paintings of hundreds of small mythological and biblical subjects. The walls are ornate with tapestries by Aubusson from the 17th century.

The Portrait Gallery serves to exhibit several of the Cossé Brissac family ancestors. The most famous military man in the family is Charles de Cossé, friend of King François 1st. The Veuve Clicquot’s portrait is also exhibited there. Born under the reign of King Louis XVI she was a widow by the age of 27. She became famous for the Champagne firm she run and exported all over the world.

Charles de Cossé - Count of Brissac

In the Salon Doré there is the Charles Cossé double ‘C’ intertwined monogram of the first Duke of Brissac who rebuilt the castle in the 17th century.

There are also two portraits of the 12th Duke and his wife, painted by Bernard Boutet de Montvel, who painted the members of the high society of the time. He died tragically in 1949, in the same airplane accident as Marcel Cerdan the champion boxer and Ginette Neveu the violinist. The portrait of Louis Hercule de Cossé, 8th Duke of Brissac and the last Governor of Paris is also in the Salon Doré.

The Salle à Manger is still used for distinguished guests. The walls are festooned with the antlers of stags killed by the Duchess d’Uzès, whose daughter married the 11th Duke of Brissac.

The Louis the XIII bedroom was given this name in memory of the King’s visit in August 1620. He was 19 at the time and used to quarrel a lot with Marie de Medicis, his mother. She had being regent during his minority and had taken as advisers a scheming Italian couple. When he was 16 the King ordered their assassination and exiled his mother, who took residence up in Angers. But Marie de Medicis couldn’t accept this and conspired against the King, her son. A battle of her troops against her son’s troops took place on the banks of the river Loire. She was defeated and was forced to negotiate with the King.

Brissac acted as Headquarter for The Royal Troops, and it is here that is celebrated the reconciliation between the Queen Mother Marie de Medicis and her son King Louis XIII. A show case recreating the scene, shows Louis XIII, Marie de Medicis, the Duke of Brissac as well as the future Cardinal de Richelieu.

The Chambre des Chasses is a room decorated with extraordinary Flemish tapestries from the 16th century with designs of animals and hunting scenes, that once belonged to two Kings of France, Louis XIV and Louis Philippe. The tapestries, depict the various hunting techniques used in the 16th century.

Loire Valley - Chateau de Brissac - Theatre

The most striking room is the Theatre built by Jeanne Say, who had a passion for opera and was a gifted opera singer. But as her social position did not allow her to perform in public, she decided to perform in the privacy of her own castle. The Théatre was inaugurated in 1890. She performed there every year until her death in 1916. The Festival was held every September and was named: ‘Les Séries d’Automne du Château de Brissac’

The park is criss-crossed with walks which lead visitors to the Mausoleum, in which the members of the family have been buried since the beginning of the 19th century.

Opening hours of the Chateau de Brissac:
From April to June and Sept-Oct:
10.00 am – 12h15 pm, 2.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Everyday except on Tuesdays
July and August:
10.00 am – 6.00 pm
Everyday
November to March:
Contact the Chateau

Last departure 30 minutes before closing time

How to get to the Chateau de Brissac

From Paris :by car : 3h
300 km by motorway (A11) By train : 1h30TGV (high speed train) between Paris-Montparnasse and Angers

From Tours :

by car : 1h20
145 km by motorway A85

International airports
Nantes-Atlantique: 120 km by motorway A11
Angers-Marcé : 40 km

Other Chateaux in the Loire Valley
Chateau de Chenonceau
Chateau de Chambord

Loire Valley Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau

2011-02-25T09:24:00.000-08:00

Loire Valley - Château d’Azay le Rideau in La Vallee de la Loire

The Château d’Azay le Rideau in the Loire Valley was inspired by the Italian style and French Renaissance style and was built between 1518 and 1523 by Gilles Berthelot and his wife Philippa Lesbahy, it is one of the most beautiful buildings from the first French Renaissance period.

The château is one of the finest examples of French architecture in the 16th century whether in the Loire Valley or elsewhere in Europe. It was built by Gilles Berthelot, whose wife, Philippa, directed the work. It is partly constructed on piles, and projects out into the Indre River. It is an elegant Renaissance building, two storeys high, with turrets and angular pointed roofs, surrounded by a wooded park.

The first medieval castle of Château d’Azay-le-Rideau was built around 1119 by one of the first Lords, a knight of King Philippe August on a place called Ridel or Rideau d’Azay. It was built as a stronghold to protect the route between Tours and Chinon.

Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau - Loire Valley

In 1418 this castle was burned down by Charles VII when Bourguigon troups, were stationed in it, provoked him. The captain and 350 soldiers were executed and up until the 19th century, the village was known as Azay-le-Brûlé.

After building the castle in 1523, Gilles Berthelot and his wife decided to leave it in 1527, when one of their cousins, Jacques de Beaume Baron of Semblançay, was executed for embezzlement, although he was later rehabilitated.

Gilles Berthelot died at Cambrai in 1529. The King confiscated the castle, but it was not until 1535, when the King gave it to one of his comrades-in-arms Antoine Raffin, that Philippa Lesbahy lost it definitively.

Antoinette, Antoine Raffin’s grand daughter, came to live in the castle in 1583 with her husband Guy de Saint-Gelois and embarked upon updating the decoration of the building.

Their son Arthus and his wife Françoise de Souvré (who later became Louis XIII’s governess) inherited the castle.

The Raffin Family and later, in 1751, their relatives the Vassé Family owned the castle until the French Revolution.

In 1791, Henry de Courtemanche sold the castle that was by now abandoned and derelict to the Marquis Charles de Biencourt, deputy of the noblesse at the Etats Generaux of 1789. The castle remained in the Biencourt Family for one hundred years. The Marquis made major changes, both inside and out, and gave the castle its present appearance.

The Marquis’ son, Armand-François-Marie (1773-1854), who was Mayor of Azay from 1825 to 1830, started the first major restoration of the castle. As early as 1840 the castle was listed, but two new angle towers overlooking the courtyard were built on its demolished medieval ruins. The King of Prussia’s nephew, Prince Frederic Charles of Prussia, stayed at the castle in 1870, with his soldiers occupying the village of Saint-Patrice and the Château of Rochecotte nearby.

Armand-Marie-Antoine Marquis de Biencourt (1802-1862) was an important collector and took great care of his castle, with the help of his wife Anne-Elie-Marie de Montmorency’s fortune. It was at the time one of the most beautiful museums in France that was open to visitors. But in 1898, the 4th Marquis after a reversal in his fortunes caused by the stock market crash of Union Général, had to sell the castle, his furniture and land. It was bought by businessman, Achille Arteau, who wanted to break it up for a profit.

The castle stayed empty until 1905, at which point the State bought it. Now, it is managed by the Centre des Monuments nationaux.

Much of the furniture, paintings, objets d’art was sold, although some were bought back by the family, such as the 52 pieces in the portrait collection that the vicomtesse of Montaigne de Poncins, great grand daughter of the Marquis, later offered, in 1939, to the Musée Condé de Chantilly. These portraits had been painted by Clouet, Corneille de Lyon, Holbein, Memling, Pourbus, Cranach, Rubens, Stella.

The 19th century novelist Balzac described the castle as “Un diamant taillé à facettes serti par l’Indre” (A multi-faceted diamond set in the Indre). Azay-le-Rideau is one of the best known of Châteaux of the Loire Valley.

Architecture

Chateau d'Azay from the Gardens - Loire Valley

Although the entrance to the chateau is monumental, the building itself, which is surrounded by the Indre, is relatively compact. In the middle of the water, with its angled towers, it ressembles a fortified castle, except for the fact that its large mullioned windows and sculptured facades betray its Renaissance period.

One of the most striking elements in the castle is its monumental staircase. It is lavishly decorated and overlooks the courtyard and the park from adorned loggias.

Inside, the setting is that of a Renaissance castle, with lavishly sculpted decorations. Several rooms of the castle have exposed sixteenth and seventeenth century Flemish tapestries from the Flemish Renaissance Period. There are several ‘salons’ and ceremonial appartments decorated in the neo-Renaissance style of the nineteenth century.

In the ‘salon’ with its immense fireplace decorated with a salamader, you can see royal portraits from the Renaissance period and from the seventeenth century. Among these portraits are Anne of Austria, the sister of Charles Quint, Catherine of Medicis and Diane of Poitiers from the studios of King François 1.

The library with its magnificent panelling, features an impressive collection of engravings and drawings that show the many restorations done by the Biencourt Family.

In the royal appartments, there are portraits of a number of French Kings, such as François 1, Henri III or Louis XIII.

The gardens were transformed in the nineteen century into a large landscaped park by the Biencourts, with an ornamental lake in which the castle is reflected.
Opening Hours (to be confirmed)

Every day
October to March: 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.
April, May, June and September: 9.30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
July and August: 9.30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The last ticket will be sold 45 minutes before closing time

Closed
The first of January, the first of May and the 25th of December

Admission Prices 2011

Adult rate : 8 €
Reduced rate : 5 €
Adult group rate : 6 € (minimum 20 persons)
School group rate : 30 € (maximum 35 students, 2 accompanying adults included, adult group rate for additional accompanying adult)

Free admission :
Minors under 18 (family visit)
18-25 years old (for people under 26 years old who are citizens of one the 27 countries of EU or are non-European permanent residents of France)
Disabled visitors and their escorts
Unemployed persons

Home : Loire Valley

Loire Valley Chateau de Blois

2011-02-17T08:11:00.000-08:00

Loire Valley - the Château de Blois

Blois is an ancient town situated between Orleans and Tours in the Loir-et-Cher region of the Loire Valley. The Château de Blois is one of the most famous and most impressive of the 300 chateaux in the Loire Valley. It is also one of the most historically important, as it was here that King Henri III had his rival Henri Duc de Guise asassinated in 1588, thus determining the future direction of France for centuries to come. It is located on the right bank of the River Loire, in the centre of the town of Blois, and is now a fine example of how architecture evolved from the Middle Ages to the Classical Period. It was the preferred residence of the Kings of France throughout the Renaissance Period.

It gained some notoriety in the 9th century when during the reign of Charles le Chauve (Charles the Bald) it became home to “Blesum Castrum” – the Château de Blois. In the year 854, it was attacked by Vikings.

The fortress was rebuilt and was at the centre of the domain of the Counts of Blois, powerful feudal landowners and lords during the Xth and XIth centuries with estates stretching through the regions of Blois, Chartres and Champagne.

The first fortress was built by Thibaud le Tricheur (Thibaud the Cheat) in the Xth century. There is also a charter showing Thibaud III, dispensing justice in the fortress of Blois near the tower castle.

After the feudal period, the castle was rebuilt by the Châtillon family in the thirteenth century and became one of the most beautiful and imposing castles of the Kingdom of France, as indicated in the chronicles of Jean Froissard. In 1392, the last descendant of the Châtillon family, Guy II de Blois-Chatillon, sold the castle to the brother of King Charles VI, Gaston d’Orléans, who took possession of it in 1397 at the death of Guy II.

Gaston d'Orleans
Louis d'Orléans was assassinated in Paris in 1407 on the orders of Jean sans Peur (Jean the Fearless), Duke of Bourgogne. Louis’ widow Valentine Visconti, left Paris to live at Blois where she died the following year, after having had engraved on the castle walls “Rien ne m'est plus, plus ne m'est rien”(There is nothing more for me, more is nothing for me).
Joan of Arc also made Blois the base for her operations, in 1492, for the relief of Orleans where Charles, son of Louis d’Orleans was being held prisoner by the English. When Charles eventually returns from captivity in England in 1440 he rebuilds parts of the castle. Of the fortress of this period there remains only the Grande Salle and the cylindrical tower of Foix.

In 1462, Charles d’Orléans’ son was born in the Château of Blois. He became King of France in 1498, under the name of Louis XII. It was at this time that the castle became the principal Royal residence for the King. With his wife Anne de Bretagne, the King embarked upon rebuilding the castle in a late gothic style, with a Renaissance garden. The castle was also used at that time as a place for diplomatic meetings and venues.

In 1515 Francois I set up court at the castle and started work on a second wing in a Renaissance Style. Charles Quint stayed at the castle in 1539.

La Chambre de la Reine

The castle was home to the Kings of France of this period, Henri II, Henri III, François II, Charles IX and Queen Catherine de Medicis who came back to the castle to die.

Henry III

King Henry III, who was driven from Paris during the Wars of Religion, took up residence at Blois, where he held the Estates-General convention 1576 and 1588. During this convention, on 23rd December 1588 the king had his arch-rival, Henri de Guise, assassinated in his room on the second floor by the king’s bodyguard known as "the Forty-five". His body was burned in one of the rooms and his remains thrown into the Loire. The same day his son Charles and his brother Louis, Cardinal de Guise and Cardinal de Lorraine were arrested. The cardinal was executed the next day in the dungeons.
.................................. Henri Duc de Guise
This led to further bloody battles between the supporters of Henri III and the supporters of Henri Duc de Guise and eventually led to Henri III himself being stabbed by a monk Jacques Clement, a member of the League, on 1st August 1589, he died on 2nd August. Henri III was the last of the Valois Dynasty (1328 - 1589).

Henri III was succeeded by his cousin Henri de Navarre - Henri IV - the first King of the Bourbon dynasty.

In 1626, Louis XIII gave the whole of the County of Blois to his brother, who loved the castle and who claimed that the air around Blois was curing him, but when he died, in 1660, the castle was abandoned.

Louis XIV didn’t live in the castle, and let old servants divide the rooms of the castle into a number of smaller apartments. In 1720, the Regency decided to install the Parliament in exile in it. In 1788 the War Ministry billeted the Royal Comtois, a cavalry regiment in it.

The fictional Musketeer, Athos, the count of La Fère, from "Les Trois Mousquetaires" by Alexandre Dumas, has a castle in Blois.

By the time of the Revolution in 1789, the castle had already been abandoned for 130 years, and everything that reminded people of the monarchy was plundered. The building fell into such a state of disrepair that its demolition was contemplated, but Napoléon I donated it to the town of Blois en 1810. As a result of the lack of money, the castle was again used as army barracks. Even so the François 1 wing was opened to the public and visited by famous writers of the day such as Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac and Alexandre Dumas.

In 1841 the castle was listed as an ancient monument and was partly restored, thanks to the efforts of Prosper Mérimée.

.................................. The Spiral Staircase

Today, the Château of Blois is a combination of a variety of styles - gothic, Renaissance, classic, with traces of the Medieval castle that was there in the past.

Inside the visitors can admire amongst other features:-
The Salle des Etats, the oldest civil gothic room in France.
The Musée Lapidaire, which contains a range of items found in a medieval castle.
The magnificent Chambre de la Reine (Queen’s Chamber) - the room in which Catherine de Medicis died.
The Chambre du Roi (King’s Chamber) – which has the largest fireplace in the Castle.
The Gaston d’Orléans Wing houses a room devoted to the history of the castle and other rooms designed for temporary exhibitions and conferences.

Opening Times of the Chateau de Blois
From January 2 to March 31 : 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 1.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.
From April 1 to June 30 : 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
From July 1 to August 31 : 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
From September 1 to September 30 : 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
From October 1 to November 2 : 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
From November 3 to December 31 : 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 1.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.

The ticket office closes 30 minutes before the closing time for the castle .

Loire Valley Chateau d'Usse

2011-02-10T17:43:00.000-08:00

Loire Valley - The Château d’Ussé - Sleeping Beauty's Castle

The Château d’Ussé in the Loire Valley (la Vallée de la Loire) is a private estate belonging to the seventh Duke of Blacas. It is famous as being the castle that inspired Charles Perrault's children's story La Belle au Bois Dormant known in English as Sleeping Beauty and is immediately recognizable as such.

It is open to the public for visits and has been a listed building since 1931. It is located on the banks of the River Indre, a tributary of the Loire, near the Chinon Forest, 33 km from Tours and 14 km from Chinon. The nearest village, the village of Rigny, and the village of d’Ussé were merged in the XIXth century to become the Commune of Rigny-Ussé.

The site has been inhabited since prehistoric times and is said to have belonged to Uccius a gallo-roman landowner. In 1004, the first Lord of Ussé was the Guelduin the First (known as the Devil of Saumur), the Viking Chief of Saumur. Gueldiun built the first wooden fortress on the site, but it was his son Guelduin II who set out to build a stone castle.

In 1424, towards the end of the Hundred Years' War, Jean V de Bueil, the Lord of Ussé, Count of Sancerre and King's Captain built the base of the present castle. His son Antoine, who married Jeanne de Valois daughter of King Charles VII started the rebuilding of the castle in the XVth century style, but, deeply in debt, he was forced to sell it in 1485 to Jacques d’Espinay. His grandson Rene d'Espinay was also forced to sell the chateau due to debts, caused partly by the works carried out on the chateau, in 1557 to Suzanne de Bourbon.

After having many different owners, the château was bought in 1659 by Thomas Bernin Marquis of Valentinay, King Louis the Fourteenth’s secretary. In 1664 the Marquis created the gardens based on drawings by Le Nôtre. In 1700, the estate became a Marquisate. Louis II Bernin de Valentinay who was a friend of Charles Perrault invited him to the château several times and the author was inspired by the castle to write the well-known children’s story La Belle au bois dormant (Sleeping Beauty).

French writer and philosopher Voltaire is said to have lived at the castle while writing a part of La Henriade, a poem dedicated to the King Henry IV of France and published in 1713.

In 1780, the descendents of Louis Bernin de Valentinay sold the château.

The castle was transferred to the Duras Family in 1807. Châteaubriand is said to have written some of his Mémoires d’Outre-tombe there. Châteaubriand was a friend of Claire de Kersaint, wife of the Duke of Duras and made her a gift of a number of cedars of Lebanon which he had brought back in from the Holy Land in 1817, and which can still be seen near the chapel. The Duke of Duras’s daughter gave the estate to her great nephew the Duke of Blacas, and the current owners of the castle are his descendants.

The chapel situated inside the castle compound is called the Collégiale Sainte Anne d’Ussé and was built by Jacques d’Espinay and his wife Lucrèce de Pons in 1521. Locally it is known as Notre Dame d’Ussé and dedicated to the Virgin’s mother. It serves as a private oratory and the stalls from the XVIth century, decorated in an Italian style, are by Jean Goujon.

The white Truffeau stone used in the building and the combined medieval, gothic and Renaissance style give the castle its beautiful enchanting shape, a perfect set for a beautiful sleeping princess. The gardens à la française were designed by Le Nôtre, who also designed the gardens at Versailles for Louis XIV.

Inside the château, the entrance hall dates back to the XVth century, while the staircase is from the XIXth century. The guards room was the entrance in the XVth century, which contains a collection of arms and oriental objects (most of them Indian) brought back by Count Stanislas de Blacas.

The Salon Vauban, contains Regency-style furniture that can all be taken apart, allowing the fabric to be changed according to the season and also a XVIth century Italian cabinet in blackened and ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl and lapis lazuli which has 49 secret drawers.

The old kitchen now contains tapestries from the XVIIth century. It is the oldest room in the château. It used to open onto an underground passage dug directly into the foundations of the château, that came out again in the middle of the Chinon Forest. This passage is now blocked.

There are also the Grande galerie, the Grand Escalier, the Antichambre and the Chambre du Roi all of which are beautifully furnished with various collections of portraits

The battlements are the backdrop for a scene from Charles Perrault’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ using wax figures.

The King's Bed Chamber

This room was restored in 1995. All the furniture dates back to 1770, the salon and the four-poster bed are in Louis XVI style. The Venice mirror is from the XVIIth siècle. The four chests of drawers are in different styles - two being Regency, one Louis XV and the last Transition. The oak floor dates back to the XVIIth century.

Visiting times for the château (inside the château and the gardens)
From February 18 to March 31 10.00 to 18.00
From February 1 to June 30 10.00 to 19.00
From July 1 to August 31 9.00 to 19.00
From September 1 to November 11 10.00 to 18.00

Address :
Château d’Ussé
37420 Rigny Ussé
Tel : 02 47 95 54 05
Fax : 02 47 95 43 58

Loire Valley | Chateau de Chambord

2011-02-04T06:04:00.000-08:00

The Loire Valley - Château de Chambord

The Château de Chambord is the largest of all the Châteaux in the Loire Valley. The château was the brainchild of King Francois I who returned from Italy in the company of Leonardo da Vinci and decided to build a vast château in the Italian Renaissance style in the Loire valley.

The château was built on the site of an old fortified castle in the heart of a forest domain of 5,441 hectares. Its construction took 22 years, from 1525 to 1547. The estate is surrounded by a wall that is 33 km long, making it the biggest enclosed forest park in Europe.

Listed as an ancient monument since 1840, it has also been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981, and, since 2005, has been acknowledged as being an establishment of a commercial and financial nature.

The château is located 14km from Blois. For visitors without cars there are two coach services serving the Chambord Estate from the railway station.

The Château de Chambord is a masterpiece of the Renaissance period with its 800 sculpted capitals, 77 staircases, 426 rooms, 282 fireplaces and 156 metres of façade, although its layout is that of a typical fortified castle with a keep, corner towers, and a moat for defense. The rooms are grouped together into self-contained suites, breaking with the medieval tradition of corridor rooms. The château comprises a central keep with four bastion towers at the corners, and the keep is part of the front wall of a larger compound which has a further two large towers.

The Chambord roofscape is asymmetrical and highly original with eleven kinds of towers and three styles of chimney. One of the more striking architectural features is the double-helix open staircase that serves as the centerpiece of the château. The two helixes rise up the three floors of Chambord without ever meeting, they are illuminated from above by what is often described as a lighthouse at the highest point. Some people have suggested that Leonardo da Vinci may have designed the staircase, but this has never been confirmed. Certainly given the importance of the double-helix there is clearly an idea for a novel linking together Leonardo da Vinci, Francois I, the Holy Grail and the DNA of Christ !

Although the name of the architect for the Chateau de Chambord is not actually known, what is known is that on 6 September 1519 François Pombriant was ordered to begin construction. It is also clear that Leonardo da Vinci’s had some influence in its design. Leonardo da Vinci was working as an architect at the court of Francois I at the time, but died before work on the château was started.

220,000 tons of white stones were used in the construction of the château. But the location was surrounded by swamps and many workers died from fever while working on the site.

Although Chambord was never intended to be a fortified castle, it was built around a square central body known as the “donjon”, in keeping with the way fortified castles were built in the old times. In the donjon, which has four towers at the four cardinal points, there are 8 square apartments, the 4 corridors of which lead to the central double helix staircase.

Despite being its instigator, Francois I didn’t actually spend a lot of time in Chambord. He went there for hunting parties on a number of occasions, but spent only seven weeks there in his lifetime, the real purpose of the château was to impress his rival Charles Quint. The Kings of France that succeeded Francois I neglected Chambord for more than 80 years and it fell into decay.

In 1639 Louis XIII gave it to his brother Gaston d'Orleans who carried out much restoration work. Louis XIV transformed it but only lived in it for a very short time and also abandoned it in 1685. Molière had performed the first representation of "Le Bourgeois gentilhomme" there in 1670.

In 1745 Louis XV gave it to Maurice de Saxe who installed his military regiment there, after he died in 1750 it was again abandoned.

In 1792, after the French revolution, the revolutionary government sold the furnishings, the wall panellings were removed and floors were taken up and sold, and the panelled doors were burned to heat the rooms during the sales. The château was again abandoned until Napoleon Bonaparte gave it to his subordinate, Louis Alexandre Berthier.

After his death the château was purchased from his widow for the infant Duke of Bordeaux, Henri Charles Dieudonné (1820–1883) who took the title Comte de Chambord.

King Charles X (1824 to 1830), carried out a small scale restoration and lived in it briefly. In 1870, it served as a field hospital during the Franco-Prussian war.

The final attempt to use the Chateau de Chambord was by the Comte de Chambord but after he died in 1883, the château was left to his sister's descendants, the Ducal family of Parma, Italy. All attempts at restoration ended with the start of World War I in 1914.

The Château was confiscated from the Italian Ducal family by the French state in 1915who sued to recover it, the suit was finally settled in 1932. In 1932 also, the French state purchased the estate from the Prince Elie de Bourdon, Duc de Parme.

During the Second World War, some of the works of art from the Louvre Museum, were stored there.

Restoration work was not begun on the chateau until a few years after the end of World War II. Chambord is now a major tourist attraction.

François Mitterand and Helmut Kohl stayed there during the talks on the European position on armament.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana visited the château on an official visit to France in November 1988.
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Other Chateaux in the Loire Valley -
Chateau de Cheverny
Chateau de Chenonceau

Loire Valley - Chateau de Cheverny

2011-01-30T18:45:00.000-08:00

Loire Valley - the Château de Cheverny

The Château de Cheverny is situated in the small village of Cheverny in the Loir-et-Cher in the Loire Valley Region of France. If you intend visiting it and you don’t have a car the nearest train station is Blois and there is a shuttle service from the station that takes you straight to the Château de Cheverny.

Chateau de Cheverny and Tintin
Apart from being a beautiful château and a listed historical monument Cheverny is also famous as being the inspiration for the Château de Moulinsart (Marlinspike Hall) in Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin. It first appeared in "Le Secret de la Licorne" ("The Secret of the Unicorn" ) and also in "Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge" (Red Rackham’s Treasure), encouraged by this special relationship the Cheverny estate and the Hergé Foundation have jointly created a permanent exhibition called Les Secrets de Moulinsart (The Secrets of Marlinspike Hall). Despite this connection with Tintin, dogs are not allowed.

The current owner of the Château de Cheverny, the Marquis de Vibraye, is the descendant of the first Lord of the Manor, the Comte de Cheverny Lieutenant Général et Tresorier of King Louis XI. Some remains of the old castle can still be seen in the outbuildings.

The château as it stands now, was built between 1624 and 1630. The château was lost to the Crown for reasons of fraud and then offered by Henri II as a gift to his mistress Diane de Poitiers, who preferred the Chateau de Chenonceau (also a gift from Henri) and so sold Cheverny back to the former owner’s son Philippe Hurault.
The interiors of the chateau were finished by 1650 by the daughter of Henri Hurault and Marguerite, marquise de Montglas. Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, known as the Grande Mademoiselle, and the grand-daughter of King Henri IV said it was like an “enchanted palace”.

The château was opened up to the public by the owner in 1922. It is one of the most visited of the Loire Valley Châteaux with its magnificent objets d’art, tapestries and decorations. The family still lives there.

The château was built using stone from the region that hardens and gets whiter over time, giving the castle its white south façade. The roofs of the wings, in the form of square domes, have an open bell tower, while the main body of the castle’s roof is high and constructed in a typical French style.

The Grand Staircase in stone is classical in style and dates back to the period of Louis XIII. It is decorated with garlands and fruit mixed with war motifs, all of which are sculpted in stone. On the landing of the staircase there is an exhibit of magnificent 6,000 year old prehistoric antlers of an ancient ancestor of the elk. They were unearthed 200 years ago in the ice in Siberia and in the nineteenth century they were given as a gift to the then Marquis de Vilbraye who was a collector.

The dining room with its splendid fireplace gilded with gold leaves is decorated with wood panel depicting the story of Don Quixote. The fireplace is surmounted by a bust of King Henri IV. The furniture in the room is engraved with the coat of arms of the Hurault de Cheverny family, as are the Cordoue leather coverings of the walls.

The ceiling of the ground-floor drawing room was restored in the nineteenth century. On the walls, you can admire numerous portraits of the Cheverny Family, one of which has been attributed to Titian, while another one is by Pierre Mignard. There are also portraits of Louis XIII, his brother, and Queen Anne of Austria.

The King’s bedroom is the most magnificently decorated room of the château. It is said the King Henri IV himself slept in this room. The walls are covered with elaborate tapestries created around 1640. The four-poster bed is covered with examples of Persian embroidery.

The park around the château is one hundred hectares and includes a jardin à la française, a landscaped garden, a watercourse, and a kitchen garden. The drive leading up to the château is six kilometres long.

The British Queen Mother came to visit the castle in 1963.

The Grounds

The grounds of the Château de Cheverny are truly magnificent and are home to some remarkable trees such as the Family lindens, giant redwoods and cedar trees from the Atlas Mountains, Lebanon and the Himalayas. Cheverny has a tradition of hunting with hounds and visitors are welcome to view the kennels and watch the dogs being fed every day at 5pm between 1st April and 15th September

Opening times of the Château de Cheverny

from 1st January to 31st March:
from 9.45am to 5.00pm
from 1st April to 30th June:
from 9.15am to 6.15pm
from 1st July to 31st August:
from 9.15am to 6.45pm
from 1st September to 30th September:
from 9.15am to 6.15pm
from 1st October to 31st October:
from 9.45am to 5.30pm
from 1st November to 31st December:
from 9.45am to 5.00pm
(Open every day of the year)
Entrance costs between 5 euros and 16.90 euros for adults, children under seven admission is free, other children 3.20 euros (only a rough guide – please check all times and rates with the official site- see links).

Loire Valley & Chateau de Chenonceau

2011-01-29T18:58:00.000-08:00

The Loire Valley - the Châteaux of the Loire with a Short Video

The Loire Valley and the Château de Chenonceau

Situated to the south-west of Paris, the Loire Valley (La Vallée de la Loire in French) is without doubt one of the most strikingly beautiful regions of France. It is popular with those wishing to visit a part of France other than Paris or the Atlantic or Mediterranean coastal resorts such as Biarritz or Cannes.

Le Château de Chenonceau

The Loire Valley is known as "le Jardin de la France" (the Garden of France) and "le Berceau de la Langue Francaise" (the Cradle of the French Language). The most celebrated and visually striking element of the Loire Valley is its architectural heritage, which is visible in its magnificent historic towns such as Angers, Amboise, Chinon, Blois, Saumur, Orléans, and Tours, but also of course in its famous "châteaux" often referred to in English as castles, but in fact "palaces" or "stately homes" would be a more accurate description.

A short video about the Chateau de Chenonceau.

The most well-known and most popular with visitors are the Château de Chambord, Château d'Ussé, Château d'Amboise, Château de Cheverny, Château de Villandry and Château de Chenonceau.

At the turn of the century, in the year 2000, UNESCO named the part of the Loire valley situated between Maine and Sully-sur-Loire, as a World Heritage Site (Site du Patrimoine Mondial). In the words of the committee this part of the Loire Valley is: "an exceptional cultural landscape, of great beauty, comprising historic cities and villages, great architectural monuments - the Châteaux - and lands that have been cultivated and shaped by centuries of interaction between local populations and their physical environment, in particular the Loire itself."

There are, in fact, more than 300 châteaux in the Loire Valley, some of which were built many hundreds of years ago. This proliferation of châteaux in the same region was due to the fact that the French kings decided to construct their châteaux in this area, and the nobility, who were keen, or even desperate, to remain close to the seat of French power, decided to do likewise, which in turn attracted the very best landscape designers and resulted in the magnificent châteaux that we see today.

But royals are nothing if not fickle, and in the middle of the 16th century King Francois I decided to leave the Loire Valley and move the seat of French power back to the ancient capital of Paris. The great architects followed behind of course, but the Loire Valley continued to be the place where most of French nobles preferred to spend the majority of their time.

Francois I 1494 - 1547

In the 17th century, however, King Louis XIV made Paris the permanent site for the royal family by building the Palace of Versailles just outside Paris. The nobility and the wealthy still continued, nevertheless, to renovate their existing châteaux or to build new ones which they used as summer residences in the Loire valley.

The Château de Chenonceau

The Château de Chenonceau is situated in the commune of Chenonceau. It is a private château that is the most visited “Monument Historique privé” in France. It is furnished and decorated with many beautiful rare tapestries and paintings, is surrounded by a number of gardens and has itsd own wine domain.

There has been a fortified castle and a mill on the site since 1230, as the strategic location was useful for controlling the passage from one bank of the river to the other. The old castle, which belonged to the Marques Family was destroyed and then rebuilt, but poor management, followed by serious financial problems, forced the Marques family to put it up for sale and after a fierce legal battle the Marques Family saw its castle confiscated and Thomas Bohier took possession of it.

Thomas Bohier was the King’s lawyer and secretary, he was also a very important figure and very shrewd. He and his wife carried out numerous changes to the castle. He demolished the old one and built the new one on the pillars of the old mill, retaining only the Tour des Marques (the tower) and the well. The construction works took over ten years and were supervised by Thomas Bohier’s wife while he himself was away.

When Thomas Bohier died, it was discovered he had been guilty of embezzlement, and King Francois I imposed a hefty fine on his inheritance and confiscated the estate ! The château thus became a Royal Domain.

Diane de Poitiers, the ‘favorite’ of King Henri II, received it as a present from the King in 1547. It was she who had the bridge built to link the castle to the left bank, but not the galleries on top which were the creation of Catherine de Medici.

After the death of Henri II, Catherine of Medici forced Diane to return the domain to the Crown. It is Catherine of Medici who gave the château the form it has today. She built the two galleries on top of the Pont de Diane thus creating a reception space within the château that was and is still unique in the world.

Chenonceau is also known as the “château des Dames”, due to the fact that it has been owned by so many women and so many changes to it were instigated by them.

In 1864 Marguerite Pelouze, a rich heiress, entrusted the restoration of the château to Felix Roguet, in particular the original façade modified by Catherine of Medici. The works were so costly however that the Chateau was seized by the creditors and in 1891 was sold to a rich American, Mr Terry. It was later sold by his descendants at auction in 1913 to Henri Menier and when he died soon thereafter it was inherited by his brother Gaston Menier.

During the First World War, Gaston Menier allowed the chateau to be used as a military hospital. More than two thousand injured soldiers were cared for within its walls. The Menier family still own the Chateau de Chenonceau today.

During the Second World War the chateau was actually on the demarcation line part of it being in the Occupied Zone and part in the Free Zone.

In 1988, the Prince of Wales and Princess Diana visited the castle which was closed to the public for the occasion.

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2011-01-29T18:39:00.000-08:00

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