Château de la Glestière et ses deux fuies
CastleHidden Treasure
Château de la Glestière et ses deux fuies, located in Pacé (Département 35), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Castle
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Pacé, Département 35, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.1269, -1.7648
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090647
An elegant Breton manor house from the Grand Siècle, La Glestière features turrets with imperial roofs and precious finials, testimony to the refined art of building on the outskirts of Rennes.
History
Nestling in the bocage of Ille-et-Vilaine, just a few leagues from Rennes, Château de la Glestière is a rare example of coherent architecture in western France. Built in the third quarter of the 17th century, this Louis XIII-style ensemble has retained a formal unity that many contemporary residences have lost through successive alterations. Its ordered silhouette, punctuated by a central body flanked by two soberly aligned wings, embodies the aristocratic restraint of an era when elegance was as much about moderation as it was about ornament. What really sets La Glestière apart is the exceptional survival of its decorative details. The finials that crown the roofs of the end pavilions have retained their four-pointed fleurs-de-lis, a heraldic motif whose presence on a private residence testifies to a claimed proximity to the codes of royal power. At a time when Louis XIV was redefining absolute monarchy, displaying the fleur-de-lys on the roof was as much a statement as a decoration. The east facade holds another surprise: at the corners of the pavilions rise two small turrets whose imperial-style roofs, each topped by a pyramidal campanile, introduce an unexpected and almost whimsical verticality into the otherwise horizontal composition of the building. This interplay between classical rigour and decorative fantasy gives La Glestière an endearing character, halfway between the solemnity of a court castle and the warmth of a gentleman's home. The two "fuies" - the detached dovecotes that give the protected monument its full name - complete the ensemble and are a reminder of the seigneurial status of the property: only the nobility had the right to keep pigeons in Brittany under the Ancien Régime, and these round towers were the visible display of a privilege. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1969, the Glestière estate is a valuable landmark for anyone interested in Breton domestic architecture of the Grand Siècle.
Architecture
Château de la Glestière adopts the tripartite plan characteristic of Louis XIII architecture: a slightly dominant central main building flanked by two wings that do not project, the whole forming a flat composition without a forecourt or deep courtyard. This flatness, common in the homes of provincial nobility, gives the building an immediate legibility and a human scale that large châteaux with multiple pavilions have not always been able to preserve. At the ends of each wing, slightly pronounced pavilions punctuate the façade and accentuate the verticality of the roof. The roofs are the building's most striking decorative feature. Steeply pitched and probably covered in slate in accordance with Breton custom, they are topped with finials made of forged metal or glazed ceramic, whose four-pointed fleurs-de-lis have survived three and a half centuries without losing their formal clarity. This type of finial, common in the second half of the 17th century, is now extremely rare on the buildings that commissioned it. The east facade also features two small corner turrets at the ends of the pavilions, topped by imperial roofs - this ovoid shape with four sides - themselves surmounted by a pyramid-shaped campanile whose silhouette evokes the lanterns of certain Parisian town houses. This motif adds a touch of elegant fantasy to an otherwise resolutely classical composition. The two towers, protected by name in the inscription, are cylindrical towers with conical roofs, set at a reasonable distance from the dwelling in accordance with seigneurial custom. Their masonry, probably rendered local schist or granite rubble, is in keeping with the materials of the Rennes region. The estate as a whole thus forms a coherent architectural unit in which the noble dwelling and its functional outbuildings interact in a carefully balanced relationship of scale.
Related Figures
Propriétaire bâtisseur anonyme du troisième quart du XVIIe siècle (commanditaire de la reconstruction actuelle)Premiers seigneurs de la Glestière mentionnés en 1419 (famille noble bretonne non identifiée avec certitude)Artisans rennais ou manceaux ayant réalisé les épis de poinçon fleurdelisésInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier d'inscription de 1969
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Château de la Glestière et ses deux fuies located?
Château de la Glestière et ses deux fuies is located in Pacé, Département 35 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Château de la Glestière et ses deux fuies built?
Château de la Glestière et ses deux fuies dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Château de la Glestière et ses deux fuies open to visitors?
Château de la Glestière et ses deux fuies is currently closed to visitors.
