Chartreuse des Fraux
MonumentHidden Treasure
Chartreuse des Fraux, located in La Bachellerie (Dordogne), 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
- La Bachellerie, Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 45.1343, 1.1569
- Mérimée Reference
- PA24000074
Nestling in a valley in the Périgord region, the Chartreuse des Fraux boasts an elegant U-shaped layout dating from the late 18th century, with a sober main building and pavilions topped with slate roofs - a French art of living etched in stone.
History
Nestling in a discreet valley in the Dordogne, the Chartreuse des Fraux embodies with rare sobriety the ideal of the Périgord residence of the late Enlightenment. Neither the ostentation of a château nor the rusticity of a manor house: the Charterhouse is an art of living somewhere in between, designed for a cultivated landowner who was more concerned with order and harmony than magnificence. The main building, which has no upper storeys, stretches out its rectangular volume with quiet assurance, framed by two pavilions that give it a character that is both residential and slightly seigniorial. What sets the Chartreuse des Fraux apart from its peers is above all the quality of its integration into the landscape. The château rises from the gentle slope of a valley, following a topographical logic that is never artificial: each wing and outbuilding seems to have found its natural place. The U-shaped ground plan opens up the main courtyard to the east, letting in the morning light and providing views over the estate's grounds. The two small wings that extend the pavilions on the courtyard side close off the space without suffocating it, creating a domestic intimacy that is readily associated with the gentle provincial lifestyle of the age of the philosophers. Attentive visitors will notice the consistency of the roofs, a true signature of the building: long, gambrel roofs for the main building, long, gambrel roofs and hipped roofs for the pavilions - a classical architectural vocabulary, slightly tinged with the mansard influence, that runs from one end of the composition to the other with great unity. Slate, a noble material par excellence, contrasts with the blond limestone typical of the Périgord region, giving the whole a discreet and lasting elegance. Around the château, traces of the hamlet that was part of the estate are a reminder that the Carthusian monastery was not an isolated residence but the heart of a living farm. The four houses that are still part of the estate's fabric bear witness to a complex rural organisation, where prestigious architecture and vernacular architecture coexisted in harmony. It is this layering, between the nobility of dressed stone and the reality of working the land, that gives this site a rare historical depth.
Architecture
The Chartreuse des Fraux is a particularly clear example of the architectural style of the Périgord chartreuse of the late 18th century. Its U-shaped layout forms the backbone of the entire composition: a central, rectangular, single-storey main building is extended on either side by two slightly projecting pavilions, themselves doubled on the east side of the courtyard by two small, low wings that close off the reception area. This layout, inherited from the great French classical compositions, has been transposed here to a domestic scale without excessive monumentality, which is precisely what gives the place its charm. The roof is the main feature of the building. The main building has a long-sloped roof, evoking the mansard roof tradition of French classicism in the Grand Siècle, while the pavilions combine long-sloped roofs with hipped roofs, accentuating their individuality within the overall composition. The slate roof, a quality material imported from north-western France, gives the building a graphic tone that stands out against the green backdrop of the valley and the pale limestone of the walls. The château cleverly adapts to the topography by rising up the slope of the valley, which probably involves basement levels or vaulted cellars on the downstream side to compensate for the uneven ground. This integration into the landscape, characteristic of pragmatic 18th-century rural buildings, reinforces the feeling that the building belongs organically to its site rather than having been built on it. The construction materials - local limestone for the walls, slate for the roofs - anchor the building firmly in its region, while at the same time asserting a certain architectural ambition.
Related Figures
Propriétaire bâtisseur anonyme de la fin du XVIIIe siècle, vraisemblablement issu de la noblesse de robe ou de la bourgeoisie terrienne périgourdineArchitecte local non identifié, probablement formé dans la tradition classique régionale et au fait des modèles parisiensFamilles successives de propriétaires ayant maintenu l'intégrité du domaine entre la Révolution et le XIXe siècleGéomètre du cadastre napoléonien ayant documenté le domaine sur le plan de 1825, premier témoignage graphique précis de l'ensembleInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier d'inscription aboutissant à l'arrêté du 1er juin 2010
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Chartreuse des Fraux located?
Chartreuse des Fraux is located in La Bachellerie, Dordogne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
When was Chartreuse des Fraux built?
Chartreuse des Fraux dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Chartreuse des Fraux open to visitors?
Chartreuse des Fraux is currently closed to visitors.