The Château de l'Arthaudière 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 into a '' château '', in the '' commune'' of Saint-Bonnet-de-Chavagne in the

Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 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 ...

'' of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It was the former

seigniory In English law, seignory or seigniory, spelled ''signiory'' in Early Modern English (; ; ), is the lordship (authority) remaining to a grantor after the grant of an estate in fee simple. '' Nulle terre sans seigneur'' ("No land without a lord") ...

of the Arthauds and of the La Porte. The castle has been listed since 1991 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 ...

History

The oldest part of the castle, the round tower (), dates from the 13th century. The

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 ...

with an oblong plan dates from the 15th century, probably constructed by the Arthaud family. At the start of the

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 ...

, between the

Italian Wars The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559, mostly in the Italian Peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and Mediterranean Sea. The primary belligerents were the House of Valois, Valois kings o ...

and the Wars of Religion, the castle underwent many drastic alterations. A gallery with an upper floor was built against the western enclosing wall and the tower. At the bottom of the tower a chapel was founded at the beginning of the 16th century. André I de la Porte speaks about it in his will in 1517. At the junction of the Renaissance portico with the northern buildings, a spiral staircase was installed in the 17th century. Above the chapel, on the first floor, there is a study with an armoured door. This door consists firstly of strongly studded

fir Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

, together with a cast iron base, the whole to be opened with a single key. This part of the chapel stored the most valuable goods of the Arthauds. The tower opens to a courtyard through a series of arcades with Italian influences. Italian Renaissance is perhaps the best represented period in the influence of the architecture. The terrace gardens were probably landscaped in the 17th century; today, they serve as a venue for theatre and musical productions.

The grand stables

After the tower, the most prominent external feature of the château is perhaps the grand stables. Like the castle, the current stables underwent several periods of construction. Their design in the shape of an "L" delimits the first accessible court from the large alley. A passage surmounted by a lantern, intended to transfer fodder to the haylofts upstairs, gives access to another court bordered to the south by the coachman's quarters and a gate leading out. The coach house, the oldest part of the building, today contains a small museum of the history of the castle and the families that lived there. To the right of the entrance to the stable yards, one can see an

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

roof of metal glazed tiles set on four octagonal pillars that shelters a stone basin.

References

External links

*
Les Amis de l'Arthaudière
, visiting information {{DEFAULTSORT:Arthaudiere, Chateau de l' Châteaux in Isère Castles in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tourist attractions in Isère Monuments historiques of Isère

History

The grand stables

See also

References

External links