The Château d'Azay-le-Rideau () is located in the town of Azay-le-Rideau in the French

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.French renaissance architecture. Set on an island in the middle of the Indre river, this picturesque château has become one of the most popular of the

châteaux of the Loire valley The châteaux of the Loire Valley (french: châteaux de la Loire) are part of the architectural heritage of the historic towns of Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Montsoreau, Orléans, Saumur, and Tours along the river Loire in France. They illu ...

History

Origins of the Château

The current château of Azay-le-Rideau occupies the site of a former feudal castle. During the 12th century, the local seigneur Ridel (or Rideau) d'Azay, a knight in the service of Philip II Augustus, built a fortress here to protect the

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

Chinon Chinon () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. The traditional province around Chinon, Touraine, became a favorite resort of French kings and their nobles beginning in the late 15th and early 16th centurie ...

road where it crossed the river Indre. However, this original medieval castle fell victim to the rivalry between Burgundian and Armagnac factions during the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagen ...

. In 1418, the future Charles VII passed through Azay-le-Rideau as he fled from Burgundian occupied

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

to the loyal Armagnac stronghold of Bourges. Angered by the insults of the Burgundian troops occupying the town, the dauphin ordered his own army to storm the castle. The 350 soldiers inside were all executed and the castle itself burnt to the ground. For centuries, this fate was commemorated in the town's name of Azay-le-Brûlé (literally Azay the Burnt), which remained in use until the 18th century.

The Berthelots and the 16th century

The castle remained in ruins until 1518, when the land was acquired by Gilles Berthelot, the Mayor of

and Treasurer-General of the King's finances. Desiring a residence to reflect his wealth and status, Berthelot set about reconstructing the building in a way that would incorporate its medieval past alongside the latest architectural styles of the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

. Although the château's purpose was to be largely residential, defensive fortifications remained important symbols of prestige, and so Berthelot was keen to have them for his new castle. He justified his request to the King,

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...

, by an exaggerated description of the many 'public thieves, footpads and other vagabonds, evildoers committing affray, disputes, thefts, larcenies, outrages, extortions and sundry other evils' which threatened unfortified towns such as Azay-le-Rideau. Berthelot's duties meant that he was frequently absent from the château, so the responsibility for supervising the building works fell to his wife, Philippa Lesbahy. These took time, since it was difficult to lay solid foundations in the damp ground of this island in the Indre, and the château had to be raised on stilts driven into the mud. Even once the foundations were laid, construction still progressed slowly, as much of the stone for the château came from the Saint-Aignan quarry, which was famous for its hard-wearing rock but was also around away, meaning that the heavy blocks had to be transported to Azay-le-Rideau by boat. Nutrisco et extinguo Salamandre de François I Azay

Nutrisco et extinguo Salamandre de François I Azay

The château was still incomplete in 1527, when the execution of Jacques de Beaune, (the chief minister in charge of royal finances and cousin to Berthelot) forced Gilles to flee the country. Possibly fearing the exposure of his own financial misdemeanours, he went into exile first in

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

in Lorraine, and later in

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the ...

, where he died just two years later. Disregarding the pleas of Berthelot's wife Philippa,

confiscated the unfinished château and, in 1535, gave it to Antoine Raffin, one of his knights-at-arms. Raffin undertook only minor renovations in the château, and so the building works remained incomplete, with only the south and west wings of the planned quadrilateral ever being built. Thus, the château preserved the distinctive, but accidental, L-shape which it retains to this day.

17th–18th centuries

In 1583, Raffin's granddaughter Antoinette, a former lady-in-waiting to Margaret of Valois, took up residence in the château and, with the help of her husband Guy de Saint-Gelais, began modernising the décor. Azay-le-Rideau was then inherited by their son Arthur and his wife Françoise de Souvre, a future governess to

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

, and it was during their ownership that the new château received its first royal visit: on 27 June 1619, while on his way from

to visit his mother, Marie de Medici, in Blois,

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crow ...

broke his journey to spend the night in Azay-le-Rideau. Later in the century, his son

would also be a guest in the same room.

The Biencourts and the 19th century

The Raffins, and their relations by marriage, the Vassés, retained ownership of the château until 1787, when it was sold for 300,000 livres to the Marquis Charles de Biencourt, field marshal of the king's armies. The château was in poor condition, though, and from the 1820s, Biencourt undertook extensive alteration work. In 1824, he added a 'Chinese room' (destroyed in the 1860s) to the ground floor in the south wing, and in 1825 or 1826 decorated the library with carved wood panelling to match the drawing room on the opposite side. It was his son, Armand-François-Marie, a guard of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

who participated in the defence of the Tuileries on 10 August 1792, who began the first extensive restoration of the château. This included restoring the old medallions and royal insignia on the staircase (which had been covered up during the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

), extending the courtyard façade and adding a new tower at the east corner. These developments destroyed the last vestiges of the old medieval fortress and meant that the château at last achieved a finished appearance. For these renovations, he employed the Swiss architect Pierre-Charles Dusillon, who was also working on the neighbouring château of Ussé. Azay-le-rideau cour intérieure

During the Franco-Prussian War, the château was once again threatened with destruction. It served as the headquarters for the Prussian troops in the area, but when one night a chandelier fell from the ceiling onto the table where their leader, Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, was dining, he suspected an assassination attempt and ordered his soldiers to set fire to the building. Only his officers' assurances that the lamp had dropped by accident persuaded him to stay his hand and thus saved the château from a second burning. Following the Prussian troops' retreat, Azay-le-Rideau returned to the Biencourts. In this period, the château became well known for the collection of more than 300 historical portraits which the owners displayed there and which, unusually for a private collection, could be visited by the public. In 1899, financial difficulties forced the young widower Charles-Marie-Christian de Biencourt to sell the château, along with its furniture and 540 hectares of land, to the businessman Achille Arteau, a former lawyer from

who wanted to sell its contents for profit. As a result, the château was emptied and its artwork and furniture dispersed.

The Château in the 20th century

In 1905, the estate was purchased by the French state for 250,000 francs and became a listed Historical Monument. During the early years of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, 1939–1940, the château provided a home for the Education Ministry when they, like many other French ministries, withdrew from Paris. The château d'Azay-le-Rideau is now one of many national monuments under the protection of the Centre des monuments nationaux, and also forms part of the Loire valley

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Architecture and decoration

Exterior

Set on an island in the middle of the Indre, the château of Azay-le-Rideau seems to rise straight out of the waters of the river, which reflect the castle's façades so that the château appears to float in its own image. The writer Balzac, who lived nearby and was occasionally a guest at the château, deeply admired the building, describing it as 'a faceted diamond, set in the Indre'. This striking setting has helped Azay-le-Rideau to become one of the most famous of the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...

's many châteaux. This relatively small château is divided into two sections, the main central body and a wing at right angles to it, and displays a blend of

architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

s. The influence of the fashionable Italian Renaissance style is clear in its long proportions and ornate sculptural decorations. Alongside these Italianate elements are vestiges of medieval defensive architecture, such as the traces of the covered walkway on the external walls or the machicolations under the roof, which were no longer necessary for defence but were incorporated in the château's design because of their symbolic prestige. Finally, other architectural features, such as the bastion corners with their pointed conical turrets, the vertically stacked dormer windows separated by a

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the fl ...

, and the high, steeply sloping slate roof, help to give Azay-le-Rideau its unmistakably French appearance. The château's most prominent feature is the grand central staircase, the ''escalier d'honneur''. Its design is thought to have been inspired by the staircase of the

Château de Châteaudun The Château de Châteaudun is a castle located in the town of Châteaudun in the French department of Eure-et-Loir. History The castle was built between the 12th and 16th centuries. The Count of Blois Thibaut V had the keep built around 1 ...

, which it resembles from the outside, though its internal structure is very different. Azay-le-Rideau's staircase rises in straight flights rather than in a spiral, as was more usual at this time, and is the oldest surviving staircase of this kind in France. The staircase has three floors, each with a double bay window forming a mezzanine which looks out over the courtyard. The entryway, which resembles a Roman

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, cr ...

, is decorated with the initials of Gilles Berthelot and his wife, while the

pediments Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedime ...

overhanging each window bay are carved with the

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

and ermine of

and his wife,

Claude of France Claude of France (13 October 1499 – 20 July 1524) was Queen of France by marriage to King Francis I. She was also ruling Duchess of Brittany from 1514 until her death in 1524. She was a daughter of King Louis XII of France and his second wife ...

, in honour to the monarch of the time. Inside, the ceiling of the staircase is made up of medallions sculpted with the profiles of the kings and queens of France from Louis XI to Henry IV. With its columns and

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

, and ornate carvings of shells, medallions and other symbols, this impressive staircase provides a clear example of the influence of Italian renaissance style in the château's design. Château d'Azay-le-Rideau - salle intérieure

Château d'Azay-le-Rideau - salle intérieure

Interior

The château's richly sculpted interior decoration once again reflects the influence of the

. It is made up of several drawing rooms and stately apartments, most of which are decorated in the neo-renaissance style popular during the 19th century. Many of these rooms display 16th- and 17th-century Flemish tapestries, most notably the 'Scenes from the Old Testament' woven in Audenarde, and the 'Story of Psyche', which was created in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and which, in 2009, provided the inspiration for the château's exhibition dedicated to the Greek myth. The château also houses a significant collection of artwork, including a 'Dame au Bain' (possibly depicting

Diane de Poitiers Diane de Poitiers (9 January 1500 – 25 April 1566) was a French noblewoman and prominent courtier. She wielded much power and influence as King Henry II's royal mistress and adviser until his death. Her position increased her wealth and famil ...

) by François Clouet, and several portraits of French monarchs, including

, Henry III and Catherine de Medici. Also of note are the attics, where the '' charpente'' (in French), or the hand-crafted wooden frame supporting the roof, has been recently restored (2010–11) and can be viewed alongside an exhibition explaining the complex techniques of its construction.

Park and gardens

The current gardens were designed in the 19th century by the Biencourts, who created a large landscaped park in the English style. To the south and west, the river creates a water mirror for the château, reflecting the façades and creating an attractive tableau.

Gallery

File:Azay Le Rideau, Chateu in the river.jpg, The chateau of Azay Le Rideau is built on an island in the River Indre near the Loire in France File:Chateau Azay le Rideau.jpg, The site of the chateau was originally occupied by a medieval fortress File:Elegant Azay le Rideau.jpg, The chateau at Azay le Rideau is not the largest in the Loire region but is probably the most elegant. File:Main gates and driveway.jpg, The trees is the gardens of the chateau are impressive. Compare the size of the people to that of the trees File:Chateauazaylerideau041121.JPG, The entrance of the château File:Staircase exterior.jpg, The main staircase as seen from the courtyard File:Chateau-Azay-le-Rideau-3.jpg, The west wing File:Chateau-Azay-le -Rideau-2.jpg, View of the château from the gardens File:Loire Indre Azay1 tango7174.jpg, The château and its moat File:Chateau-Azay-le -Rideau-CourtInterieure.jpg, Interior courtyard File:AzeyParkseite.jpg, View of the château and surrounding water File:Chambre château d'Azay-le-rideau.JPG, First floor bedroom File:Châteaux d'Azay-Le-Rideau.jpg, Chimneybreast showing

's salamander File:Château d'Azay-le-Rideau - charpente.jpg, Carpentry File:Plafond escalier château d'Azay-le-rideau.JPG, Detail of the staircase ceiling File:Decorative ceiling.JPG, Decorative ceiling of the staircase

Notes

External links

Official website for the Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau
*
UNESCO site for the Loire Valley

Lot picture by night ( in French )
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azay-Le-Rideau Châteaux in Indre-et-Loire Houses completed in 1527 Historic house museums in Centre-Val de Loire Museums in Indre-et-Loire Water castles in France 1527 establishments in France Monuments of the Centre des monuments nationaux