Manoir de Boisset
ManorHidden Treasure
Manoir de Boisset, located in Meigné-le-Vicomte (Maine-et-Loire), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Manor
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Meigné-le-Vicomte, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.4937, 0.2038
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00109181
Niché dans le bocage angevin, le manoir de Boisset déploie ses volumes Renaissance avec une élégance sobre et séduisante. Un joyau du XVIe siècle classé Monument Historique, témoin discret de l'art de vivre nobiliaire en Anjou.
History
Tucked away in the rolling landscape of the commune of Meigné-le-Vicomte, on the borders of the Maine-et-Loire department, the Manoir de Boisset stands out as one of those buildings that history has left untouched, leaving local memory to keep them alive. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1968, it is a well-preserved example of 16th-century Anjou manor house architecture, halfway between the rigour of the Middle Ages and the elegance of the Renaissance, which was beginning to sweep through the French countryside from the neighbouring Loire Valley. What makes Boisset truly unique is precisely this restraint. At a time when the great lords were competing in ostentation along the Loire, the rural nobility of deep Anjou were composing remarkably coherent works using more measured means. The manor house combines the defensive features inherited from the previous century - a squat main building, a closed courtyard layout - with the first decorative graces of the Renaissance: sculpted dormer windows, meticulous window framing and the progressive symmetry of the facades. The visit offers that rare feeling of intimacy that only manor houses on a human scale can provide. There are no majestic facades to conquer, and no Versailles-style grounds: here, the building is part of its surroundings, surrounded by ancient trees, partly preserved moats and enclosed meadows that have shaped its identity over the centuries. Here, visitors can experience the daily life of the small provincial nobility, far removed from the splendour of the court. The surrounding hedged farmland reinforces this feeling of being plunged into a suspended time. The sunken lanes, hawthorn hedges and discreet bell towers of the surrounding villages make up a setting that 16th-century inhabitants would easily have recognised. Boisset belongs to the constellation of manor houses that make up the silent richness of the Anjou-Manceau heritage, all too often overshadowed by their illustrious neighbours in the Loire Valley.
Architecture
The manor house at Boisset is typical of 16th-century Anjou manor house architecture, with a long main building flanked by towers or corner pavilions that recall the defensive tradition of the previous century without retaining its strictly military function. The main facade, which probably faces south or east to take advantage of the sunshine, would have been arranged around a central bay highlighted by a neat portal and dormer windows with sculpted pediments, typical features of the provincial Renaissance. The materials used are those of the local tradition: tuffeau, the white limestone quarried in the Loire Valley, probably combined with sandstone or hard limestone quoins to reinforce the corners of the building. This noble material, which is easy to carve and luminous white, was the main vector for the spread of Renaissance decoration in Anjou and Touraine. The roofs, steeply pitched in keeping with the custom north of the Loire, are covered in slate quarried in nearby Angers or Trélazé. The manor house as a whole is part of a parcel of land that may have included agricultural outbuildings - a barn, a wine press and stables - forming an enclosed or semi-enclosed courtyard around the main dwelling, a classic layout for seigneurial farms in rural Angers. Remains of a moat or a symbolic enclosure ditch are common in this type of building, at the crossroads between a defensive residence and a rural pleasure house.
Related Figures
Famille seigneuriale fondatrice du XVIe siècle (lignage noble angevin, commanditaire probable du manoir)René d'Anjou (influenceur majeur de la culture et de l'architecture angevine au XVe siècle)Propriétaires révolutionnaires et bourgeois acquéreurs post-1789Inspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier de classement de 1968
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Manoir de Boisset located?
Manoir de Boisset is located in Meigné-le-Vicomte, Maine-et-Loire department, Pays de la Loire region, France.
When was Manoir de Boisset built?
Manoir de Boisset dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Manoir de Boisset open to visitors?
Manoir de Boisset is currently closed to visitors.
