Château de la Grée de Callac
CastleHidden Treasure
Château de la Grée de Callac, located in Augan (Département 56), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Castle
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Augan, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.8868, -2.2384
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00091811
The last of Brittany's neo-Renaissance châteaux, built between 1892 and 1908 for the Count du Bot, La Grée de Callac impresses with its entire estate - chateau, chapel, stables and orangery - preserved in its original state.
History
In the heart of Morbihan, in the midst of a bocage landscape made perpetually green by the gentle rains, the Château de la Grée de Callac rises up with unexpected majesty. The last great château to be built in Brittany in the 19th century, it embodies the desire of a provincial aristocracy to rival the splendours of the Loire or the Île-de-France, by adapting the codes of the neo-Renaissance style to a social life based on representation and pomp. What really sets the Grée de Callac apart is its remarkable completeness. Where so many seigniorial estates have lost their outbuildings through inheritance and sale, this complex has survived the 20th century almost intact: the main château, seigniorial chapel, stables, orangery, hunting lodge and gatehouse form a coherent whole, as if frozen in the atmosphere of the Belle Époque. Each building responds to the other in a skilfully orchestrated harmony. The interior reveals the ambitious decorative programme of Frédéric Jobbé-Duval, an architect from a family of decorative painters from Rennes. Sculpted woodwork, coffered ceilings, large ashlar fireplaces and stained-glass windows make up a prestigious décor that has hardly suffered from the passage of time. The large reception rooms, designed to welcome the nobility of Brittany for hunts and balls, retain a suspended festive atmosphere. The parklands and formal gardens, laid out around the château, extend the architectural experience into the open air. Hornbeam avenues, boxwood embroidery, ponds and terraces follow one another in a very nineteenth-century spirit, combining romantic landscaping with classical rigour. It's an ideal place for heritage lovers, photographers in search of sumptuous compositions and anyone who wants to capture the essence of a certain France at the end of the last century.
Architecture
Château de la Grée de Callac is fully in keeping with the French neo-Renaissance movement, a style that in the second half of the 19th century revisited the architectural forms of the 15th and 16th centuries with erudition and exuberance. The main facade, punctuated by bays of mullioned windows, elaborate dormer windows and steeply pitched roofs topped with sculpted finials, bears witness to an obvious mastery of style. The materials used, some of which were quarried locally in Brittany and some of which were selected for their suitability for sculpture, give the whole a chromatic and textural coherence that is characteristic of the region. Frédéric Jobbé-Duval designed the château on a U- or L-shaped plan, a classic layout for grand neo-Renaissance residences, allowing the parade areas - large reception rooms, library, gala dining room - and private flats to be arranged over several wings. The outbuildings, carefully designed in the same architectural spirit, include imposing stables, an orangery with a metal and glass structure and a hunting lodge, each designed as an integral part of the overall composition. Inside, the décor reflects the ideal of the architect-decorator: sculpted coffered ceilings, oak panelling, monumental ashlar fireplaces and wrought ironwork interact with ease, avoiding the pitfall of pastiche. The private chapel, with its armorial stained glass windows and carved wooden liturgical furnishings, is one of the jewels in the crown. The parklands, divided into formal gardens near the château and English-style promenades on the outskirts, complete the picture of La Grée de Callac as an accomplished example of late 19th-century total architecture.
Related Figures
Comte du Bot — commanditaire du château, membre de la noblesse bretonne du MorbihanFrédéric Jobbé-Duval (1846-1929) — architecte du château, issu d'une famille rennaise de peintres décorateursFélix Jobbé-Duval — peintre parisien renommé, frère de l'architecte FrédéricFamille Jobbé-Duval — dynasty d'artistes décorateurs actifs à Rennes depuis le milieu du XIXe siècle
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Château de la Grée de Callac located?
Château de la Grée de Callac is located in Augan, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Château de la Grée de Callac built?
Château de la Grée de Callac dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Château de la Grée de Callac open to visitors?
Château de la Grée de Callac is currently closed to visitors.