Hôtel de Robien, actuellement Crédit Agricole
MonumentHidden Treasure
Hôtel de Robien, actuellement Crédit Agricole, located in Rennes (Département 35), 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
- Rennes, Département 35, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.1135, -1.6795
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090702
In the heart of Rennes, this seventeenth-century town house was the sanctuary of Presidents de Robien, members of parliament and exceptional collectors, whose chinoiserie-style woodwork reveals unspoilt refinement.
History
Tucked away in the urban fabric of the old town of Rennes, the Hôtel de Robien is one of those discreet gems that only a trained eye can spot. Behind a sober façade typical of 17th and 18th century Breton civil architecture lies a remarkably rich interior, reflecting the cultural ambitions of a family that was one of the most enlightened minds in the kingdom. What really sets this private mansion apart is the uniqueness of its interior décor. The wood panelling from the Louis XIV and Louis XV periods stands side by side with two overdoors and four panels decorated in the Chinese lacquer style - an orientalist fantasy that is rare in Brittany, and bears witness to the chinoiserie craze that swept through the courts and cultivated salons of the 18th century. These panels, kept in the former Salon de Compagnie, are a first-rate artistic document of the tastes of a provincial elite in tune with Parisian and European trends. The tour is irresistibly reminiscent of the world of the provincial Enlightenment: you can imagine Christophe-Paul de Robien, president à mortier of the Parlement de Bretagne, strolling through these rooms surrounded by his collections - antiques, natural curiosities, paintings - which formed the founding nucleus of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes. At the time, the mansion was much more than a residence: it was a living cabinet of curiosities, an intellectual crossroads between Rennes and Paris. Now occupied by a Crédit Agricole branch, the building has a dual existence, as both a listed monument and a contemporary living space. This seemingly paradoxical cohabitation in no way detracts from the emotion generated by its volumes and woodwork. It is a reminder that heritage is not a static museum, but a living space, shaped by time and its successive uses. Rennes, a city of parliament and culture, offers the keen visitor a remarkable itinerary, of which the Hôtel de Robien is one of the most subtle stages - far from the crowds, close to what's essential.
Architecture
The Hôtel de Robien is in the tradition of the private mansion of the French nobility of the 17th and 18th centuries, with a typical main building flanked by wings or outbuildings opening onto a courtyard of honour. The facade, sober and dignified, reflects Breton provincial classicism: local dressed stone, regular arrangement of mullioned or small-wooded windows, moulded cornice. Although discreet in the urban fabric of Rennes, the building exudes the quiet authority typical of the homes of magistrates under the Ancien Régime. It is inside that the bulk of the building's architectural and decorative wealth lies. The remarkably well-preserved 17th- and 18th-century wood panelling lines the reception rooms with a sculpted décor alternating between smooth panels, cavet mouldings and friezes with plant or geometric motifs. The highlight of the décor are the four panels painted in the style of Chinese lacquerware and the two overdoors in the former Salon de Compagnie: these works, in the vein of European chinoiserie from the early 18th century, depict oriental scenes with black or dark backgrounds enhanced with gold and coloured motifs, evoking the Asian lacquerware that was very much in vogue in aristocratic and bourgeois interiors at the time. The sobriety of the exterior and the richness of the interior are the paradox of this building, a reflection of a parliamentary culture that preferred learned ostentation to ostentatious pomp. The gardens and Trianon, which have now disappeared, were intended to complete the ensemble with a landscape and pictorial dimension that made it a total residence in the eighteenth-century sense.
Related Figures
Christophe-Paul de Robien (1698-1756) — président à mortier au Parlement de Bretagne, archéologue, écrivain et collectionneur dont le cabinet fonda les collections du musée des Beaux-Arts de RennesJean Jouvenet (1644-1717) — peintre normand ayant réalisé les peintures du Trianon des jardins de l'hôtel, aujourd'hui disparusLa famille de Robien — lignée de magistrats bretons ayant possédé l'hôtel de 1699 à la Révolution françaiseLes présidents à mortier du Parlement de Bretagne — trois générations de hauts magistrats ayant vécu dans l'hôtel au XVIIIe siècle
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Hôtel de Robien, actuellement Crédit Agricole located?
Hôtel de Robien, actuellement Crédit Agricole is located in Rennes, Département 35 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Hôtel de Robien, actuellement Crédit Agricole built?
Hôtel de Robien, actuellement Crédit Agricole dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Hôtel de Robien, actuellement Crédit Agricole open to visitors?
Hôtel de Robien, actuellement Crédit Agricole is currently closed to visitors.
