Château de Nazelles
CastleHidden Treasure
Built in the 16th century by Thomas Bohier, the builder of Chenonceau, this stately home in the Amasse valley combines Renaissance elegance and Loire-style intimacy in a Touraine setting.
History
Nestling in the commune of Nazelles-Négron, at the gateway to Amboise and just a few leagues from the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Loire Valley, the Château de Nazelles is one of those discreet jewels that make up the exceptional richness of the Loire Valley. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1963, this 16th-century Seigneurial dwelling is immediately striking for the refined sobriety of its lines, typical of early French Renaissance architecture in the Loire Valley. What makes the Château de Nazelles truly unique is its close link with Thomas Bohier, one of the most influential men at the court of François I, whose genius as a builder also gave rise to the Château de Chenonceau. Owning Nazelles and Chenonceau at the same time testifies to the rank and ambition of this great treasurer to the King, who imbued these Touraine lands with his vision of architecture that was both functional and representative. Discovering the Château de Nazelles takes you through a succession of layers of time, which can be read in the stone itself. The north facade, pierced by a semicircular doorway inherited from the original layout, opens onto an inner courtyard whose quiet atmosphere contrasts pleasantly with the bustle of the large neighbouring fortresses. A remarkably authentic wooden balcony, a vestige of the original external staircase, invites us to imagine the daily life of the inhabitants of the Ancien Régime. The château's natural setting is part of the limestone hillside and flat tile landscape so characteristic of the Touraine region. The golden light that bathes the Amasse valley in the afternoon hours gives the building a soft glow that is particularly appreciated by photographers and lovers of authentic heritage. Far from the crowds of the great sites of the Loire, Nazelles offers a calm and studious approach to Renaissance heritage.
Architecture
Château de Nazelles is part of the early French Renaissance movement as it developed in the Loire Valley in the first decades of the 16th century: sober volumes, use of the local blonde tufa stone, meticulous work on windows and frames, without the decorative emphasis that was to characterise the later Italianate style. The seigneurial dwelling built by Thomas Bohier has a compact floor plan, organised around an inner courtyard in a layout that is still based on medieval layouts but is open to new conceptions of aristocratic domesticity. The north facade, with its elaborately carved semi-circular doorway, is the centrepiece of the original composition. It expresses the passage between two worlds: the exterior and the interior courtyard, a space for representation and circulation. The wooden balcony, a vestige of the original outside staircase, is a rare find: as the carpentry and joinery of the 16th century have generally disappeared, this surviving piece provides a unique record of the building practices of the period. Tuffeau, a soft, light-coloured limestone quarried from the Touraine hillsides, was the dominant material used for the masonry, as it was in almost all the Loire Valley châteaux of the period. The 18th-century features - a vaulted passageway on the ground floor and a square pavilion on the east side - blend discreetly into the built volume. The vaulted passageway, an ingenious solution dictated by the new road layout, radically alters the way the building is perceived from the south facade, now the main facade. The sober, regular square pavilion reflects the classical taste of the period for clean, geometric volumes, in keeping with the aesthetic of the Renaissance dwelling that it complements.
Related Figures
Philippe de Nazelles — chevalier, premier propriétaire connu, attesté en 1245Thomas Bohier — général des finances, constructeur de Chenonceau et de Nazelles, propriétaire vers 1520Saint Martin de Tours — évêque, premier détenteur attesté des terres de Nazelles au Ve siècleFrançois Ier — roi de France, souverain sous lequel Thomas Bohier exerça ses fonctions et bâtit NazellesCharles VIII — roi de France, premier maître de Thomas Bohier dans sa carrière de financier royal
