Château d'Azay-le-Rideau
During the 12th century, the local seigneur Ridel (or Rideau) d'Azay, a knight in the service of Philip II Augustus, built a fortress here to protect the Tours to Chinon road where it crossed the river Indre.
[3] Desiring a residence to reflect his wealth and status, Berthelot set about reconstructing the building in a way that would incorporate its medieval past alongside the latest architectural styles of the Italian Renaissance.
He justified his request to the King, Francis I, by an exaggerated description of the many 'public thieves, footpads and other vagabonds, evildoers committing affray, disputes, thefts, larcenies, outrages, extortions and sundry other evils' which threatened unfortified towns such as Azay-le-Rideau.
Even once the foundations were laid, construction still progressed slowly, as much of the stone for the château came from the Saint-Aignan quarry, which was famous for its hard-wearing rock but was also around 100 km (62 mi) away, meaning that the heavy blocks had to be transported to Azay-le-Rideau by boat.
[5] The château was still incomplete in 1527, when the execution of Jacques de Beaune, (the chief minister in charge of royal finances and cousin to Berthelot) forced Gilles to flee the country.
[8] The Raffins, and their relations by marriage, the Vassés, retained ownership of the château until 1787, when it was sold for 300,000 livres to the Marquis Charles de Biencourt, field marshal of the king's armies.
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.
Alongside these Italianate elements are vestiges of medieval defensive architecture, such as the traces of the covered walkway on the external walls or the machicolations under the roof, which were no longer necessary for defence but were incorporated in the château's design because of their symbolic prestige.
[17] Finally, other architectural features, such as the bastion corners with their pointed conical turrets, the vertically stacked dormer windows separated by a string course, and the high, steeply sloping slate roof, help to give Azay-le-Rideau its unmistakably French appearance.
[20] With its columns and pilasters, and ornate carvings of shells, medallions and other symbols, this impressive staircase provides a clear example of the influence of Italian renaissance style in the château's design.
Many of these rooms display 16th- and 17th-century Flemish tapestries, most notably the 'Scenes from the Old Testament' woven in Audenarde, and the 'Story of Psyche', which was created in Brussels and which, in 2009, provided the inspiration for the château's exhibition dedicated to the Greek myth.
Also of note are the attics, where the charpente (in French), or the hand-crafted wooden frame supporting the roof, has been recently restored (2010–11) and can be viewed alongside an exhibition explaining the complex techniques of its construction.
