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Château-Dauphin
Château-Dauphin is a medieval castle in the '' commune'' of Pontgibaud in the Puy-de-Dôme ''département'' of France. History The castle owes its name to the coat of arms of the person who built it in the 12th century: Robert I, Count of Auvergne, on whose arms was a dolphin (''dauphin''). The original construction was modified in the 15th century by Gilbert III Motier de La Fayette, who strengthened the defences and enlarged the keep. Abandoned in the 17th century for a more comfortable building, and damaged during the French Revolution, the castle was finally restored in the 19th century by Count César III of Pontgibaud. The castle has been occupied since 1756 by the family of a King's musketeer, César I de Moré. The present owners, the Count and Countess Gabriel de Germiny, are his descendants. The castle, garden and museum are open to the public. Architecture The main building is a double keep. In effect, a round keep forms one of the corners of a strong square ke ...
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Société Des Mines Et Fonderies De Pontgibaud
The Société des mines et fonderies de Pontgibaud (Pontgibaud Mine & Foundry Company) was a French silver and lead mining and smelting company based in Pontgibaud, Puy-de-Dôme. It mined lead-silver ore deposits that had been exploited since Roman times. Later it opened another factory in Couëron in the Loire estuary, and then closed down the Pontgibaud mines and foundry. The Pontgibaud factory in Couëron diversified into other non-ferrous metal products using imported ore. After being sold and resold it finally closed in 1988. Location Pontgibaud is in the Massif Central on the banks of the Sioule river. The belts of ore extend for about north-south parallel to the course of the Sioule on both sides of Pontgibaud. The silver galena veins are embedded in gneissic rock. The different veins of ore at Pranal, Barbecot, Roure, Les Rosiers, La Miouse and Villevieille are mainly oriented in a north-south direction. The ores are encased in migmatites from the base of the Combrailles. ...
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Pontgibaud
Pontgibaud () is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. It is located in the Massif Central region of France on the banks of the river Sioule. The area around the town was historically known for silver and lead mining. The Société des mines et fonderies de Pontgibaud exploited the lead-silver mines between 1852 and 1897. The remnants of Château-Dauphin, a 12th-century castle, are located in Pontgibaud. John Ruskin spent October 7, 1840 exploring Pontgibaud. He reckoned it "Altogether the happiest day, as far as employment or scenery can go, I have had for these long five years".The Dairies of John Ruskin. Selected and edited by Joan Evans and John Howard Whitehouse. Vol 1. (1835 to 1847). Oxford at The Clarendon Press. 1956. Notable people * Anna Garcin-Mayade, painter and member of the French Resistance See also *Communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department The following is a list of the 463 communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department ...
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List Of Castles In France
This is a list of castles in France, arranged by Regions of France, region and Departments of France, department. ;Notes: # The French word ''château'' has a wider meaning than the English ''castle'': it includes architectural entities that are properly called palaces, mansions or vineyards in English. This list focuses primarily on architectural entities that may be properly termed ''castle'' or ''fortress'' (), and excludes entities not built around a substantial older castle that is still evident. # Occasionally, where there is not a specific article on a castle, links are given to another article that includes details, typically an article on a town. # ''Italics'' indicate links to articles in the :fr:Main Page, French Wikipedia. # If no article appears in either English or French Wikipedias, a link is given to an external website. # The number in parentheses after the name of each department indicates the department number used for administrative purposes. # The number of cast ...
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Château Dauphin - Facade
A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowadays, a ''château'' may be any stately residence built in a French style; the term is additionally often used for a winegrower's estate, especially in the Bordeaux region of France. Definition The word château is a French word that has entered the English language, where its meaning is more specific than it is in French. The French word ''château'' denotes buildings as diverse as a medieval fortress, a Renaissance palace and a fine 19th-century country house. Care should therefore be taken when translating the French word ''château'' into English, noting the nature of the building in question. Most French châteaux are "palaces" or fine "country houses" rather than "castles", and for these, the word "château" is appropria ...
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Musketeer
A musketeer ( ) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern warfare, particularly in Europe, as they normally comprised the majority of their infantry. The musketeer was a precursor to the rifleman. Muskets were replaced by breech loading rifles as the almost universal firearm for modern armies during the period 1850 to 1870. The traditional designation of "musketeer" for an infantry private survived in the Imperial German Army until World War I. Historical antecedents The hand cannon was invented in Song dynasty China in the 12th century and was in widespread use there in the 13th century. It spread westward across Asia during the 14th century. The hand cannon evolved into the arquebus that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. The term musket was originally used to describe a heavy arquebus capable of penetrating heavy armor. Although this heavy version of the musket fell out of use after the mid ...
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Castles In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified house, fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace, and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for ''pleasance'' and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain wall (fortification), curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace. European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries after the fall of the Carolingian Empire, which resulted ...
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French Ministry Of Culture
The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, plastic, theatrical, musical, dance, architectural, literary, televisual and cinematographic) on national soil and abroad. Its budget is mainly dedicated to the management of the (six national sites and hundred decentralised storage facilities) and the regional (culture centres). Its main office is in the in the 1st arrondissement of Paris on the . It is headed by the Minister of Culture, a cabinet member. The current officeholder has been Rachida Dati since 11 January 2024. History Deriving from the Italian Renaissance, Italian and Duchy of Burgundy, Burgundian courts of the Renaissance, the notion that the state had a key role to play in the sponsoring of artistic production and that the arts were linke ...
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Monument Historique
() is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, a garden, a bridge, or other structure, because of their importance to France's architectural and historical cultural heritage. Both public and privately owned structures may be listed in this way, as well as movable objects. there were 44,236 monuments listed. The term "classification" is reserved for designation performed by the French Ministry of Culture for a monument of national-level significance. Monuments of lesser significance may be "inscribed" by various regional entities. Buildings may be given the classification (or inscription) for either their exteriors or interiors. A monument's designation could be for a building's décor, its furniture, a single room, or even a staircase. An example is the classification of the déco ...
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Silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. Silver is found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form ("native metal, native silver"), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc Refining (metallurgy), refining. Silver has long been valued as a precious metal. Silver metal is used in many bullion coins, sometimes bimetallism, alongside gold: while it is more abundant than gold, it is much less abundant as a native metal. Its purity is typically measured on a per-mille basis; a 94%-pure alloy is described as "0.940 fine". As one of the seven metals of antiquity, silver has had an enduring role in most human cultures. Other than in currency and as an in ...
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Kitchen Garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for growing edible plants and often some medicinal plants, especially historically. The plants are grown for domestic use; though some seasonal surpluses are given away or sold, a commercial operation growing a variety of vegetables is more commonly termed a market garden (or a farm). The kitchen garden is different not only in its History of gardening, history, but also its functional Garden design, design. It differs from an Allotment (gardening), allotment in that a kitchen garden is on private land attached or very close to the dwelling. It is regarded as essential that the kitchen garden could be quickly accessed by the cook. Historically, most small country gardens were probably mainly or entirely used as kitchen gardens, but in large co ...
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Curtain Wall (fortification)
A curtain wall is a defensive wall between fortified towers or bastions of a castle, fortress, or town. Ancient fortifications Evidence for curtain walls or a series of walls surrounding a town or fortress can be found in the historical sources from Assyria and Egypt. Some notable examples are ancient Tel Lachish in Israel and Buhen in Egypt. Curtain walls were built across Europe during the Roman Empire; the early 5th century Theodosian Walls of Constantinople influenced the builders of medieval castles many centuries later. Curtain wall castles In medieval castles, the area surrounded by a curtain wall, with or without towers, is known as the bailey. The outermost walls with their integrated bastions and wall towers together make up the enceinte or main defensive line enclosing the site. In medieval designs of castle and town, the curtain walls were often built to a considerable height and were fronted by a ditch or moat to make assault difficult. Walls were topped ...
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