Ancien monastère dit La Corroierie
MonumentHidden Treasure
Ancien monastère dit La Corroierie, located in Chemillé-sur-Indrois (Indre-et-Loire), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Chemillé-sur-Indrois, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.1513, 1.1403
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00097652
A fortified dependency of the Chartreuse du Liget, La Corroierie is one of the oldest Carthusian establishments in France, combining medieval architecture with a unique industrial vocation: the preparation of manuscript skins.
© Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia
History
Nestling in the bocage of southern Touraine, just a few leagues from the famous Chartreuse du Liget founded by Henry II Plantagenet, La Corroierie is an exceptional and singular architectural landmark in the French monastic landscape. Far from being a simple priory, this fortified convent complex was designed from the 12th century onwards as an economic and strategic dependency of the Carthusian monks, intended to produce the precious parchment on which the monks copied their illuminated manuscripts. This industrial destiny, rare in the contemplative world of the Carthusian monastery, gives it an absolutely unique identity. Visitors passing through the high carriage gate with its machicolations enter a world suspended between the cloister and the fortress. The fortified enclosure surrounds an inner courtyard with buildings of striking Romanesque sobriety: the great hall with its double nave, the Angevin-style chapel with its slender vaults, and the mysterious dovecote-prison, whose loophole-pierced ground floor is a reminder that the Carthusian monks exercised the right of high justice over their lands here. The visitor experience combines an unspoilt sense of heritage with intellectual curiosity that is constantly stimulated. Every stone, every opening seems to tell the story of the dual vocation of this place: prayer and work, ora et labora taken to its most concrete consequences. Lovers of medieval architecture will be fascinated by the coexistence of distinct building techniques - Burgundian Romanesque, Angevin Gothic, Renaissance fortification - within a limited area. The natural setting reinforces this feeling of discovery out of time. Surrounded by forests and meadows typical of the Gâtine tourangelle region, the site offers a solitude that the great châteaux of the Loire can no longer guarantee. La Corroierie is a monument for connoisseurs, for those who prefer the depth of history to the glitz and glamour of the setting.
Architecture
The architectural ensemble of La Corroierie is characterised by the visible superimposition of several building campaigns spread over four centuries. The original 12th-century core, in the Romanesque tradition, comprises a large rectangular hall covered with barrel vaults divided into two vessels by a row of squat columns with soberly ornate capitals, characteristic of the rigorous Carthusian aesthetic. Adjacent to the main building, the chapel reveals the influence of Angevin Gothic: ribbed vaults, lancet windows and a lightness of elevation that contrasts with the massiveness of the workroom. The first floor added to the chapel, with its wooden floors that have now partly disappeared, abruptly interrupts the vertical momentum of the nave, a clear sign of the subordination of the sacred to the utilitarian in this unusual building. The partially preserved fortified enclosure structures the complex around an inner courtyard. The main gateway, dating from the 16th-century alterations, is the crowning glory: perfectly preserved, it combines a pedestrian gateway with a large semi-circular carriage entrance, all crowned by a band of machicolations with carved stone corbels, a late echo of medieval military architecture. All the masonry is in local Turonian limestone, a characteristic blonde stone of the Loire Valley, which gives the building its warm, luminous hues. The circular building, which was probably used as a prison and dovecote, is the most intriguing and original element of this little-known Carthusian heritage, given its shape and interior layout - loopholes on the ground floor and a single entrance on the first floor.
Related Figures
Henri II Plantagenêt — roi d'Angleterre, fondateur de la Chartreuse du Liget dont La Corroierie est la dépendanceThomas Becket — archevêque de Cantorbéry dont le meurtre motiva la fondation pénitentielle du LigetLes frères convers chartreux — artisans laïcs qui assuraient le travail du cuir et des peaux sur le siteLes prieurs de la Chartreuse du Liget — administrateurs successifs de la Corroierie du XIIe au XVIIIe siècle
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ancien monastère dit La Corroierie located?
Ancien monastère dit La Corroierie is located in Chemillé-sur-Indrois, Indre-et-Loire department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
When was Ancien monastère dit La Corroierie built?
Ancien monastère dit La Corroierie dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Ancien monastère dit La Corroierie open to visitors?
Ancien monastère dit La Corroierie is currently closed to visitors.