The French Château de Chaumont-la-Guiche r -Laguiche(), located in Saint-Bonnet-de-Joux (

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

), in a region formerly known as Charolais in southern

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

, was constructed beginning in 1500 for the .Babelon 1989, pp. 797–798. The most famous feature of the château is the monumental 17th-century stable block, designed by the noted French architect,

François Blondel François Blondel (; June 1618 – 21 January 1686) was a soldier, engineer of fortifications, mathematician, diplomat, military and civil engineer and architect, called "the Great Blondel", to distinguish him in a dynasty of Architecture in Fr ...

Description

The northwest façade of the ''

corps de logis In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal or main block, or central building of a mansion, country or manor house, castle, or palace. It contains the rooms of principal business, the state apartments and the ceremonial or formal ...

'' has tall

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

and transom windows. An openwork stone

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

runs along the base of the steeply

pitched roof Roof pitch is the steepness of a roof expressed as a ratio of inch(es) rise per horizontal foot (or their metric equivalent), or as the angle in degrees its surface deviates from the horizontal. A flat roof has a pitch of zero in either inst ...

, which is pierced with

dormers A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

opening into the

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

. At the right end is a large square

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

, which rises an additional storey; toward the left end, a taller octagonal

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

encloses a staircase. Each has a separate, steeply pitched roof. The southeast façade is framed by two towers: a square pavilion to the right and a large round

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

tower to the left (the Tour d'Amboise). Both towers and the ''corps de logis'' are surmounted by protruding

crenellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

parapets, supported by ranges of

corbels In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...

. The steep roof of the ''corps de logis'' has six dormers of a markedly different design than those found on the northwest side. The square tower is also topped by its own steeply

Architectural history

The oldest part of the current

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 ...

, the western portion of the southeast façade, was constructed between 1500 and 1514, during the reign of

Louis XII of France Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), also known as Louis of Orléans was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples (as Louis III) from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves, he succeeded his second ...

, for Pierre de La Guiche, the king's ambassador to Rome and, by marriage, a nephew of Jacques d'Amboise. The Tour d'Amboise was constructed in 1505. Pierre de La Guiche named his château after the

Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire 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 reg ...

(owned by the

House of Amboise The House of Amboise was one of the oldest families of the French nobility whose followed filiation dated back to the early twelfth century. It took its name from the town of Amboise in Touraine. The house of Amboise formed the two branches of T ...

) and built it in the style of the

châteaux of the Loire Valley The châteaux of the Loire Valley () 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 illustrate Renaissance ideals of des ...

. Construction was continued in 1584 by his son, Philibert de La Guiche, governor of

Lyonnais The Lyonnais (, ) is a historical province of France which owes its name to the city of Lyon. The geographical area known as the ''Lyonnais'' became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy after the division of the Carolingian Empire. The disintegra ...

and ''grand maître de l'artillerie'' from 1578 to 1596. In the 17th century the château was completed by the addition of two wings perpendicular to the ''corps de logis'' with pavilions at the far ends, forming an interior courtyard opening to the north. These were pulled down in 1805.

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

elements, including the octagonal stair turret on the northwest façade and the square pavilion at the east end of the southeast façade, were added to the château in 1850. File:Château de Chaumont, Saône-et-Loire.jpg, View from the south, 1835 lithograph by

Émile Sagot Émile Sagot (1805–1888) was a French illustrator and lithographer. Plan général du Château de Tanlay, Bourgogne. Des. par E. Sagot et Lahorey - btv1b84432476 (2 of 3).jpg, Château de Tanlay Château de Chaumont, Saône-et-Loire.jpg, Châtea ...

File:Château de Chaumont-la-Guiche by Victor Petit - Antonio Raimo Galleries (cropped).jpg, The southeast façade in the mid-19th century File:Château de Chaumont-la-Guiche by Blanche McManus - amazon(dot)com (cropped).jpg, View from the south, 1909 drawing by Blanche McManus

The stables

The most notable feature at the château is the famous stable block, a vast rectangular building with two monumental stone-balustraded exterior double staircases flanking the main entrance. The latter is surmounted by a life-sized

equestrian statue An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning 'knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a ...

of Philibert de La Guiche, "an imperial motif unprecedented in a building of this sort". The identity of the horseman is suggested by

reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

of two

cannons A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during t ...

above the

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. Two large, very tall stone chimneys loom over the extremities of the building. The

cross-vault A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...

ed ground floor is divided into three aisles by 56 Tuscan columns in two parallel arcades. The outer two aisles contain stalls for more than 80 horses. The stables were erected from 1648 to 1652 by the local

mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a worker who lays bricks to assist in brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutti ...

and entrepreneur François Martel, who is often credited with the design, but

claimed it as his own in a note in his 1685 edition of Louis Savot's ''L'architecture françoise''. Henriette de La Guiche, the daughter of Philibert, built the stables for her second husband, , ''colonel général'' of the king's cavalry, governor of Provence, and a grandson of

Charles IX of France Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) was List of French monarchs, King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II of France, Francis II in 1560, an ...

. Alais had also inherited the

Château d'Écouen The Château d'Écouen is an historic château in the commune of Écouen, some 20 km north of Paris, France, and a notable example of French Renaissance architecture. Since 1975, it has housed the collections of the Musée national de la Re ...

. These royal connections account for the monumentality of the design. Alais probably knew Blondel via the military. Alais could not have used the stables much. He died in the year after its completion. The stables have been classified 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, ...

'' since 1982 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 ...

. File:Ecuries du château de Chaumont en Charolais, façades restaurées, juin 2021..jpg, In June 2021 after a restoration File:Stables of the Château de Chaumont-la-Guiche - notrefamille(dot)com.jpg, Postcard

Notes

Bibliography

* Babelon, Jean-Pierre (1989). ''Châteaux de France au siècle de la Renaissance''. Paris: Flammarion/Picard. . * Ganay, Ernest de (1953). ''Châteaux de France: Normandie et régions nord et est''. Éditions Tels. * Gerbino, Anthony (2010). ''François Blondel: Architecture, Erudition, and the Scientific Revolution''. London and New York: Routledge. . * Hautecoeur, Louis (1948). ''Histoire de l'architecture classique en France. Tome II, Le règne de Louis XIV''. Paris: A. et J. Picard. . * Herrmann, Wolfgang (1982). "Blondel, François", vol. 1, pp. 216–219, in ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects'', 4 volumes, edited by Adolf K. Placzek. New York: The Free Press. .

External links

Photos and history (in French) of the Château de Chaumont la Guiche
at Châteaux de France

at Charolles Info * . Originally at ralphlauren.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaumont La Guiche, Chateau De Châteaux in Saône-et-Loire Stables Monuments historiques of Saône-et-Loire fr:Écuries du château de Chaumont