The Château des Adhémar is a

castle 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 ...

, later converted to a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

style

château 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 re ...

, in the French town of

Montélimar Montélimar (; Vivaro-Alpine dialect, Vivaro-Alpine: ''Montelaimar'' ; ) is a town in the Drôme Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is the second-largest town in t ...

in the

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

. It is located on a hill in the centre of the town.

History

Its origins are found in the 11th century when the first

was built by the

Count of Toulouse The count of Toulouse (, ) was the ruler of Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ruled the city of Toulouse and its surrounding county from the late 9th century until 12 ...

, the Duke of Narbonne. Little of this remains. In the second half of the 12th century it became the property of the Adhémar de Monteil family, lords of Rochemaure, later lords of Grignan, then at the height of their power. The

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

they built substantially exists today. In the 14th century, it was taken by the

papacy The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, joining the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

's castles until 1447, when

was returned to the kingdom of France. The site of many armed conflicts, especially during the Wars of Religion, the castle suffered much damage and was transformed into a citadel, then back to a pleasant residence with the return of more peaceful times. In the 15th century it was used as a prison. In the middle of the 16th century, Louis Adhémar rebuilt in the

style. During the French Revolution, the castle was partially destroyed. The castle was a prison again between 1791 and 1926, a use which has meant that it remained practically intact.

Architecture

The château is considered to be one of the last examples of Romanesque castle architecture, having a fortified curtain wall,

round walk Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * Having no sharp corners, as an ellipse, circle, or sphere * Rounding, reducing the number of significant figures in a number * Round number, ending with one or more zeroes * Round (crypt ...

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

, a house and chapel, combining social, family, political and religious life in one. Only the Narbonne tower is outside the first wall, some metres to the north. Of the original 12th-century residential buildings, only the palace remains. There are three large rectangular rooms reached through a monumental doorway. The spectacular decoration of the lodgings is concentrated on the first floor gallery, with no fewer than nine semicircular arches with sculptured columns. This series of windows extends the full length of the building. The keep has three floors. The austere architecture, with thick walls, reminds visitors of the castle's medieval origins. The castle has been listed as a ''

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, ...

'' by the

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 pro ...

since 1889.

Contemporary art

The property of the Département de la Drôme since 1947, the Adhémar’s castle is a ''monument historique'' and was a contemporary art centre from 2000 to 2017. This centre worked with artist projects linking both a high standard of proposals and a real firmly fixed territorial spot. A new Museum of Contemporary Art recently opened in former barracks in the north of the city centre. The aim of the centre of contemporary art through the three castles of the Drôme general council (Adhémar at Montélimar, Grignan, Suze-la-Rousse) is to match contemporary creation and cultural heritage. Since its creation, about a fifty temporary exhibitions has been performed with renowned national artists, even international and younger ones. Besides the contrast between medieval architecture and the various forms of present creation, the castle originality is expressed by the artists who have to keep in mind the important heritage of the place. Thus, each artist develops a strategy in their creation to emphasize, to refute, to express, to reveal or to conceal the powerful architectural presence of the Adhémar’s castle.

Exhibitions

* 2001 : André Morin,

Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, Drafter, draftsman and Printmaking, printmaker, who was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. His work was particularly influenced ...

, Ange Leccia, Laetitia Benat, Nicolas Delprat * 2002 : Danielle Jacqui,

Daniel Buren Daniel Buren (born 25 March 1938, in Boulogne-Billancourt) is a French conceptual artist, painter, and sculptor. He has won numerous awards including the Golden Lion for best pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1986), the International Award for ...

, Ivan Fayard, Patrick Tosani * 2003 : Krijn de Koning, Felice Varini, Jean-Luc Moulène, Damien Beguet * 2004 : Virginie Litzler, Alexandre Ovize, Nicolas Prache, Sarkis, Adam Adach, Stéphane Calais * 2005 : Delphine Balley, Clare Langan, Christine Laquet, Stéphanie Nava, Tadashi Kawamata, Françoise Quardon, Pierre David * 2006 : Alina Abramov, Armand Jalut, Aurélie Pétrel, Bernhard Rüdiger, David Renaud, Philippe Durand * 2007 : Eoin Mc Hugh, Le Gentil Garçon, Marie-José Burki, Etienne Bossut * 2008 : Cécile Hesse, Gaël Romier, Sophie Lautru, John Armleder, Lilian Bourgeat, Christine Rebet * 2009 : Jean-Louis Elzéard, Magali Lefebvre, Sarah Duby, Xavier Veilhan, Jean-François Gavoty, Loris Cecchini, Yvan Salomone, Delphine Gigoux-Martin, Gilles Grand, Benjamin Seror * 2010 : Julien Prévieux, Pierre Malphettes, Delphine Balley, Yan Pei Ming * 2011 : Victoria Klotz, Ann Veronica Janssens, Betty Bui, Eric Rondepierre * 2012 : Guillaume Bardet, Olga Kisseleva, Emmanuel Régent, Marie Hendriks * 2013 : Mehdi Meddaci, Guillaume Bijl,

Mat Collishaw Matthew "Mat" Collishaw Royal Photographic Society#Distinctions and qualifications, Hon. FRPS (born 6 January 1966) is a contemporary British artist based in London. Work Collishaw's work uses photography and video. With an early foundati ...

, Glenda León

References

External links