Domaine de la Bourdaisière
CastleHidden Treasure
Aux portes de Tours, la Bourdaisière mêle Renaissance ligérienne et romantisme de la Restauration sur un domaine où Gabrielle d'Estrées charma Henri IV — et où pousse aujourd'hui la plus grande collection de tomates d'Europe.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
Resting on a rocky spur overlooking the hillsides of the Loire, the Domaine de la Bourdaisière is one of those residences that accumulate lives as others accumulate centuries. In Montlouis-sur-Loire, a few kilometres from Tours, this château combines Renaissance remains with a neo-classical main building erected during the Restoration, all set in a park of generous proportions designed by France's greatest landscape architects. What makes La Bourdaisière truly unique is the density of its history. A medieval fortress transformed into a residence of pleasure in the 16th century, it was the setting for one of the most romantic relationships of the French monarchy. Its trajectory - grandeur, dismemberment, rebirth - makes it a striking summary of the destiny of the nobility of the Loire between the Ancien Régime and the 19th century. The main Restoration building, austere and elegant in its proportions, contrasts with the three adjoining 16th-century wings, including the cave chapel carved out of the tufa rock. The monumental colonnaded gateway that opens onto the park from the east - crossing the moat on a stone bridge - sets the tone for an architecture that aims for dramatic effect as much as sobriety. Today, the park is the estate's main attraction. Created at the end of the 19th century by Édouard André and his son René-Édouard, two major figures in French landscape design, it is home to an exceptionally extensive tomato conservatory, which has become a gastronomic and botanical destination in its own right. Photographers, families and garden lovers will find this a rare experience, far from the beaten track of the touristy Loire Valley.
Architecture
Château de la Bourdaisière is a coherent blend of several architectural periods. The main building, erected entirely under the Restoration by Baron Angellier, adopts the neo-classical vocabulary in vogue at the time: sober lines, regular elevations, windows with moulded frames and French-style roofs. Three adjoining buildings, set back at right angles to the north, form a wing that preserves the memory of the 16th-century château, with its Renaissance modelling still visible despite the demolition work carried out in the 18th century. To the west remain the outbuildings, dating from the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, arranged in two perpendicular wings forming an enclosed service courtyard. One of the most striking features of the estate is the monumental east-facing gateway, which opens into a colonnade and is crowned by an aedicule cushioned by a triangular pediment. Crossed by a bridge spanning the moat - evidence of the medieval defensive system and the site's original fortified vocation - it forms a theatrical entrance that heralds the park with rare architectural dignity. The sixteenth-century chapel, carved out of the tufa rock on the western terrace, is the most unusual feature of the whole complex: a troglodytic structure integrated into the castle's composition, it is a reminder that the region's limestone subsoil is itself a material in its own right, exploited since the Middle Ages.
Related Figures
Gabrielle d'Estrées — favorite d'Henri IV, reçue au château en 1598Henri IV — roi de France, séjourne à la Bourdaisière en 1598Duc de Choiseul — ministre de Louis XV, fait démolir une partie du château pour remployer ses matériaux à ChanteloupBaron Angellier — acquiert le domaine sous la Restauration et finance la reconstruction du corps de logis principalÉdouard André — paysagiste français, restructure le parc à la fin du XIXe siècleRené-Édouard André — fils et collaborateur d'Édouard André, intervient également sur le parc du domaine
