Gentle Freinds, on my last touring day in the Loire we decided to stay close to home. Le Puy, the village where we were staying is about 15 minutes from the City of Saumur... and Saumur has a great Chateau set on the highest point overlooking the City...
this is the restored stone and drawbridge leading up to the Chateau...
The Chateau de Saumur was constructed on a high rocky point overlooking the Loire near the confluence of the Thouet river. The first large fortified castle on this site was built in the 10th century by Theobold I, Count of Blois. A larger more fortified castle was built in the later part of the 12th century by Plantagenet, Henry II, some of his titles include... Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine and King of England he had others and was a powerful figure along with his wife Eleanor.... remember her?? That 12th-century structure was a more a utilitarian fortified castle. It was enlarged by later Counts of Anjou who eventually rebuilt the main tower about 1360. The first Duke of Anjou, Louis I converted this tower/fortress into a luxurious residence. This "new" chateau-palace would become the most beautiful residence of the Dukes of Anjou-Valois. After the last Duke of Anjou died the Chateau returned to the royal estate under King Rene in 1480. The Chateau is built of locally mined stone called tuffeau.
... and important early illustration of the Chateau Saumur is in the "Tres Riche Heures du Duc du Berry." The illustration is from the page for Septemeber when the peasants are harvesting in the fields. The Book of Hours is the most important remaining French Gothic illustrated manuscript. The Duke du Berry who commissioned the book was the Brother of the Duke d'Anjou so he knew this Chateau well. Both Dukes, at the time, were sons of John II, called the Good, who was King of France from 1350-64.
... looking from the Court of Honor out over Saumur and Loire...
... inside the Court of Honor...
... these are postcards that show how the Chateau looked around 1900 and before restoration began...
... some of the original floor tiles... they were recreated during the restoration...
... the rooms are large and are hung with some great tapestries...
... I really couldn't find much info about this tapestry, but it looks like a royal progress of some sort...
... all the fireplaces are big so that large fires could try and keep these room warmish...
... another tapestry, this one depicting a battle...
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The Chateau also has a huge collection of French pottery and porcelain...and you know what a nut I am about plates and porcelain... I took lots of snaps!!
... this case is full of low fired faience from Rouen factory Sinceny, founded in 1715. It's a thick earthenware covered in white tin glaze and decorated with lovely bright colors... it all dates to the 18th century...
... in addition to all the pottery, there is scattered about some furniture and other decorative things.... this Louis XV small two draw bombe chest has a great piece of marble for a top and two really super crouching porcelain Foo Dogs...
... a case of 17th-century faience from Nevers and a super needlepoint covered Louis XV chair...
... a case of high fire faience from Rouen dating to the 17th and 18th centuries...
... there are also some beautiful portraits... this is of Mademoiselle de Blois (1677-1749) who was the daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. O/C...
... above some of the cases in different rooms are more tapestries... this series is called "Les Enfants Jardiniers"- children gardeners... these two are... on the left Autumn, on the right Summer...
... these three are called Le grand Printemps, the big spring...
... and these two are... on the left Spring and on the right Winter...
... here's a snap of how they are hung....and how big the rooms are... notice the fgreat tiled foloors...
... a case of high fired porcelain from Niderviller in Strasbourg...18th century...
... close up of the floral decoration on these plates...
... this is just a super gorgeous porcelain plate...
... floral decorated Chantilly pottery cache pot...
... this is Lady Genevive du Dufort, Duchesse de Lauzun (1689-1740) O/C
... and this is her husband, Antoine Nompar de Caumont, Duc de Lauzun (1632-1723) O/C. He was a Marshal of France and a renowned General of the French Army...
... a lovely big case of Mennecy soft paste porcelain from the factories around Chantilly, Sceaux, and Bourg-la-Reine, 18th century... notice me in the picture..... it's my reflection...
... a super Mennecy soft paste porcelain Compotier, with bird decoration, 18th century...
... a super faux bois decorated cup and saucer and covered jar, hard paste porcelain... 18th century...
... a restored circular wood/stone staircase from one of the towers...
... here you can see where one of the curtain walls were not restored which left the court of honor open to views of the city...
... another view out over the city of Saumur...
... standing back and looking at the Chateau...
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We headed back down into the Saumer to visit the church Notre-Dame des Ardilliers ...
which was attached to the Convent Notre-Dame des Ardilliers...
Here's some history of the church and why it's here....in ancient times there was a natural fountain/spring near here which was the scene of pagan sacrifices. After Christianity came to the area a monastery was founded near the spring by Charlemagne. That Monastery was destroyed by the Normans in the 10th century. One surviving monk from that early monastery retired to a nearby cave as a hermit and with him took a statue of our Lady, his sole remaining treasure. In 1454 a small statue believed to have belonged to that monk was found by a local farmer while he was plowing a field. The ground the statue was found in is called "ardille" or clay in French and it's from that, the name of the chapel comes from... Notre Dame des Ardilliers. This statue wrought many miracles and so the erection of a small arch above the spring was built. Soon followed by a small chapel which built and dedicated. By 1553 the arch and small chapel had turned into this magnificent chapel and had attained magnificent proportions as other additions were made, most notably by Cardinal Richelieu.
The worship of Our Lady of Ardilliers blossomed during the reign of Francois I. This handsome edifice, extended into this wonderful-looking space by the 17th century. It became one of the most popular pilgrimage centers in the western Loire valley with over 10,000 pilgrims a year visiting. The building is of Italian inspiration, the 88-foot high cupola is quite striking. The ancient miraculous statue stands next to the left of the nave, in the Richelieu Chapel.
... during the Battle of Cadets, in June 1940, most of the structures around the chapel were destroyed and the vault collapsed. These were restored between 1947 and 57. The oak frame of the dome is replaced by a concrete shell to limit the thrust on the walls and the windows were replaced with scenes from the passion of Christ...
... looking down the nave...
... the high altar with exuberant and beautiful Baroque stone carving.. for such a small (relatively speaking) space this is a magnificent piece of sculpted stone-work!!
... the Richelieu Chapel with the "Ancient Statue" in the niche below the large Pieta...
...the Royale Chaple...
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... then it was off to downtown, so we went to the Place St Pierre and some lunch...
... to the half-timbered Auberge St Pierre...
... it was a brisk and overcast day, but we sat outside anyway with a view of the church...
... I ordered "Boeuf Bourguignon a L'Ancienne" a very good and hearty beef stew!! Along with lunch, we had a lovely red wine!
... and here's a snap of Saumur's WWI memorial which has become a memorial to the residents of the City that have been lost in... WWI, WWII. the Polish-Soviet War (1919-21), and the wars in Indochina (1946-54) and Algiers (1854-62). It was designed and sculpted by Paul Roussel (1867-1928). The reason for the inclusion of a horse in this memorial is that Saumur has been the home to the Cadre Noir and the French Riding School since 1763 when Loius XV and the Duc de Choiseul set the school up... It was a great day and a wonderful way to wrap up the Loire valley part of the trip...
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The next day I took a train back to Paris for the last part of my trip.... next it's on to Paris...
There you go sports fans, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!
Take care,
edgar
Another magnificent building! I do love seeing all that china again in this place. What a wonderful trip you had! Looking forward to seeing Paris!
ReplyDeleteThe Richelieu Chapel is spectacular and the entire tour
ReplyDeletecompelling.... Bless you, Edgar, for taking us with you...