Built between 1518 and 1527, Château d’Azay-le-Rideau is considered one of the finest examples of early French renaissance architecture. Set on an island in the middle of the Indre river, this picturesque château reflects in the water, while inside the rooms are lovely decorated.
For solid foundations in the damp ground of the island, the château had to be raised on stilts driven into the mud. The stone for the château came from a quarry, famous for its hard-wearing rock which was 100 km away, meaning that the heavy blocks had to be transported all the way by boat.
Francis I confiscated the unfinished château in 1535 and gave it to Antoine Raffin, one of his knights-at-arms. He undertook only minor renovations in the château, and so the building works remained incomplete, with only the south and west wings of the planned square ever being built. Thus, the château preserved the distinctive, but accidental, L-shape which it retains to this day.
The Raffins, and their relations by marriage, the Vassés, retained ownership of the château until 1787, when it was sold to the Marquis Charles de Biencourt, field marshal of the king’s armies.
During the Franco-Prussian War, the château was once again threatened with destruction. It served as the headquarters for the Prussian troops in the area, but when one night a chandelier fell from the ceiling onto the table where their leader, Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, was dining, he suspected an assassination attempt and ordered his soldiers to set fire to the building. Only his officers’ assurances that the lamp had dropped by accident saved the château from being burned down.
Following the Prussian troops’ retreat, Azay-le-Rideau returned to the Biencourts. In this period, the château became well known for the collection of more than 300 historical portraits which the owners displayed there and which, unusually for a private collection, could be visited by the public.
That might have been the reason for the exhibition taking place at the moment, called “The Hidden Portraits”, presenting works by German artist Volker Hermes at the châteaux. Through his digital photomontages, Volker Hermes revisits historical portraits by incorporating repurposed ornaments, inspired by costumes from the 16th to 19th centuries, which invade the painting. No better place to display his work than this castle we thought.
After our visit to this lovely castle, it was urgent time for another swim, which we found at the river Loire. We stayed at the campsite Terre d’ Entente, which had a great beach along the river. The next day, we made our way to Le Mans – more soon!
