Site castral de Montbazon
CastleHidden Treasure
Site castral de Montbazon, located in Montbazon (Indre-et-Loire), 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
- Montbazon, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.2856, 0.7138
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00097870
A stone sentinel that has stood on a promontory overlooking the Indre valley since the year 1000, the keep at Montbazon is one of the oldest keeps in France still standing, a striking vestige of Romanesque military architecture.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
Standing on its rocky spur like a blade in the Touraine sky, the keep at Montbazon has defied the test of time for over a thousand years. These few cubic metres of medieval masonry are one of the rare witnesses to the castral architecture of the early Capetians, a time when the lords of Touraine carved their power in rock and dry stone. The fragmented silhouette of the tower, mutilated but majestic, can be seen from afar on the plain; it immediately commands the respect that is due to truly ancient things. What sets Montbazon apart from other medieval ruins is precisely this extraordinary age. Built around the year 1000, the site belongs to a generation of keeps that can be counted on the fingers of one hand in France. Its thick walls, hewn from the blonde limestone characteristic of the Loire Valley, reveal a construction technique that was still in its infancy, and which prefigured the great Romanesque towers of the 11th century. The small rectangular tower leaning against the main keep, which probably housed the stairwell, is an architectural detail of absolute sobriety - and remarkably consistent with the building practices of the time. A visit to the castral site of Montbazon is more about communion than mere tourism. You climb up to the ruins along a path that offers increasingly stunning views over the Indre valley, which meanders and meadows like a medieval illumination. The attentive walker will realise that this landscape has changed very little since the days when armed lords kept watch here for passing convoys and the movements of their enemies. The landscape context is inseparable from the interest of the monument. The Montbazon promontory dominates a natural crossroads between Touraine and Berry, which explains the strategic importance of the site throughout the Middle Ages. In the golden hour, photography enthusiasts will find an ideal subject: the stone tower standing out against the changing sky of the Loire, surrounded by vegetation that is slowly conquering the old masonry.
Architecture
The keep at Montbazon belongs to the large family of rectangular Romanesque towers that were typical of castles built in the year 1000. Its massive silhouette, with walls of considerable thickness designed to resist projectiles and attempts to undermine it, reveals a purely defensive logic. According to the remains that have survived, the tower had a ground floor and probably three upper storeys, giving it a total height that, in its day, must have dominated the landscape in an impressive way and allowed long-distance surveillance of the Indre valley. The small rectangular tower set against the keep is a particularly interesting architectural feature. Its probable role as a stairwell testifies to an already sophisticated functional organisation: rather than creating a staircase in the very thickness of the load-bearing walls, the builders preferred to externalise this vertical circulation in an annex volume. This arrangement, which can be found in a few rare keeps of the same generation, improves both the strength of the main tower and the practicality of access to it. The materials used are those of the Tourangeau region: tuffeau, the soft, light-coloured limestone so characteristic of the Loire Valley, is probably used alongside hard limestone rubble in the most heavily used parts. The work, which is still rustic compared to the great Romanesque structures of the late 11th century, has a relatively irregular structure that admirably documents the state of masonry techniques around the year 1000. Today, these roughnesses and imperfections are precious sources of information for building archaeologists.
Related Figures
Foulques Nerra, comte d'Anjou (970-1040) — probablement commanditaire de la construction initiale du donjon vers l'an 1000Eudes II de Blois (983-1037) — rival acharné de Foulques Nerra, dont les ambitions sur la Touraine expliquent la nécessité de fortifier MontbazonGeoffroy Martel, comte d'Anjou (1006-1060) — héritier de Foulques Nerra, poursuivit la politique castrale en TouraineLes moines de l'abbaye de Cormery — liés aux dépendances du site, ils jouèrent un rôle dans la gestion des terres environnantes au Moyen ÂgeFoulques V d'Anjou (1092-1143) — sous son règne, les remaniements défensifs des XIe-XIIe siècles atteignirent leur pleine maturité
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Site castral de Montbazon located?
Site castral de Montbazon is located in Montbazon, Indre-et-Loire department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
When was Site castral de Montbazon built?
Site castral de Montbazon dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Site castral de Montbazon open to visitors?
Site castral de Montbazon is currently closed to visitors.