Achâteau (pluralchâteaux, both pronounced[ʃɑto]) is amanor house, orpalace, or residence of thelord of the manor, or a fine country house ofnobility orgentry, with or withoutfortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions.
Nowadays, achâteau may be any stately residence built in a French style; the term is additionally often used for a winegrower's estate, especially in theBordeaux region ofFrance.[1]
The word "château" is a French word that has entered English, where its meaning is more specific than in French. The French wordchâteau denotes buildings as diverse as a medieval fortress, a Renaissance palace, and a fine 19th-century country house. Care should therefore be taken when translating the French wordchâteau into English, noting the nature of the building in question. Most French châteaux are "palaces" or fine "country houses" rather than "castles", and for these, the word "château" is appropriate in English. Sometimes the word "palace" is more suitable. To give an outstanding example, theChâteau de Versailles, also called in Frenchle palais de Versailles, is so-called because it was located in the countryside when it was built. Still, it does not resemble a castle, so it is usually known in English as the Palace of Versailles. When clarification is needed in French, the termchâteau fort is used to describe a fortified castle, such as theChâteau fort de Roquetaillade.
The urban counterpart of a château is apalais in French, which is usually applied only to very grand residences in a city. This usage differs from that of the term "palace" in English, where there is no requirement that a palace be in a city, whereas the wordpalais is rarely used for buildings other than the grandest royal residences. The termhôtel particulier is used in French for an urban "private house" of a grand sort.[2]
A château is a "power house", as SirJohn Summerson dubbed the British and Irish "stately homes" that are the British Isles' architectural counterparts to French châteaux. It is the personal (and usually hereditary) badge of afamily that, with some official rank, locally represents the royal authority; thus, the word château often refers to the dwelling of a member of either the French nobility or royalty. However, some fine châteaux, such asVaux-le-Vicomte, were built by the essentially high-bourgeois—people but recentlyennobled:tax-farmers and ministers ofLouis XIII and his royal successors. The quality of the residences could vary considerably, from grand châteaux owned by royalty and the wealthy elite near larger towns[3] to run-down châteaux vacated by poor nobility and officials in the countryside,[4] isolated and vulnerable.[5]
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A château was historically supported by itsterres (lands), composing ademesne that rendered the society of the château largely self-sufficient, in the manner of the historic Roman and early medievalvilla system (cf.manorialism,hacienda). The open villas of Rome in the times ofPliny the Elder,Maecenas, and EmperorTiberius began to be walled-in, and then fortified in the 3rd century AD, thus evolving tocastellar "châteaux".[6] In modern usage, a château retains some enclosures that are distant descendants of these fortifyingoutworks: a fenced, gated, closeable forecourt, perhaps agatehouse or a keeper's lodge, and supporting outbuildings (stables, kitchens, breweries, bakeries, manservant quarters in thegarçonnière). Besides thecour d'honneur (court of honour) entrance, the château might have an innercour ("court"), and inside, in the private residence, the château faces a simply and discreetly enclosed park.
In the city of Paris, theLouvre (originally a fortified castle) and theLuxembourg Palace (originally a suburban palace) were initially referred to as châteaux, but became "palaces" when the city enclosed them. In other French-speaking regions of Europe, such asWallonia (Belgium), the wordchâteau is used with the same meaning as in France. In Belgium, a strong French architectural influence is evident in the seventeenth-centuryChâteau des Comtes de Marchin and the eighteenth-centuryChâteau de Seneffe.
In the United States, the wordchâteau took root selectively. In theGilded Age resort town ofNewport, Rhode Island, large manor homes were called "cottages", but north ofWilmington, Delaware, in the rich, rural "Château Country" centred upon the powerfulDu Pont family, the word château is used with its original definition. In Canada, especially in English, château usually denotes a hotel, not a house, and applies only to the country'smost elaborate railway hotels, built during the Canadian railroad golden age, such as theChâteau Lake Louise inLake Louise, Alberta, theChâteau Laurier in Ottawa, theChâteau Montebello inMontebello, Quebec, and theChâteau Frontenac inQuebec City.[7]
There are many estates with true châteaux on them in theBordeaux wine regions. Still, it is customary for anywine-producing estate since the 19th century, no matter how humble, to prefix its name with "Château". This term became the default way of designating an estate inBordeaux, in the same way thatDomaine did inBurgundy. BothChâteau andDomaine are aristocratic in implication, but Bordeaux had a better claim to the association: nobles had owned Bordeaux's best vineyards for centuries. Most of Burgundy's best vineyards, in contrast, had been owned by the Church. The termChâteau became a permanent verbal fixture in Bordeaux, and it was emulated in other French regions and outside France.[8]
The winery denominationChâteau is now protected by French law, and confirmed in 1981 by European Union law,[9] as "traditional appellation". The term Château may be used only if two conditions are fulfilled:
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TheLoire Valley (Vallée de la Loire) is home to more than300 châteaux.[10] They were built between the 10th and 20th centuries, firstly by the French kings followed soon thereafter by the nobility; hence, the Valley is termed "The Valley of the Kings". Alternatively, due to its moderate climate, wine-growing soils, and rich agricultural land, the Loire Valley is referred to as "The Garden of France". The châteaux range from the very large (often now in public hands) to more 'human-scale' châteaux such as the Château de Beaulieu inSaumur or the medievalChâteau du Rivau close toChinon, which were built of the localtuffeau stone.[11]
TheChâteau de Chenonceau is a French château spanning the river Cher, near the small village ofChenonceaux in theIndre-et-Loiredepartment of theLoire Valley in France. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire Valley. The estate of Chenonceau is first mentioned in writing in the 11th century. The current château was built in 1514–1522 on the foundations of an old mill and was later extended to span the river. The bridge over the river was built from 1556 to 1559 to designs by the French Renaissance architectPhilibert de l'Orme, and the gallery on the bridge, built from 1570 to 1576 to designs byJean Bullant.
Built byJules Hardouin-Mansart, 1675–1683 for theduc de Chevreuse,Colbert's son-in-law, theChâteau de Dampierre is aFrench Baroque château of manageable size. Protected behind fine wrought iron double gates, the main block and its outbuildings (corps de logis), linked by balustrades, are ranged symmetrically around a dry paved and gravelledcour d'honneur. Behind, the central axis is extended between the formerparterres, now mown hay. The park with formally shaped water was laid out byAndré Le Notre.[12]
TheChâteau de Montsoreau is the onlyChâteau of the Loire Valley to have been built directly in theLoire riverbed. It is also one of the first example of arenaissance architecture in France.[13] Montsoreau was built in 1453 by Jean II de Chambes (first counsellor ofCharles VII of France and ambassador of France toVenice and toTurkey) by order of the king soon after the end of the Hundred years war. The French dramatistAlexandre Dumas made the château de Montsoreau world famous with his trilogy on theFrench Wars of Religion of whichthe lady of Monsoreau is the second volume.[14]
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The Château deVaux-le-Vicomte is a baroque French château located inMaincy, nearMelun, 55 km southeast of Paris in theSeine-et-Marne département of France. It was built byLouis Le Vau from 1658 to 1661 forNicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle-Isle (Belle-Île-en-Mer), Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances ofLouis XIV. The interior was lavishly decorated by painterCharles Le Brun. Louis XIV later called Louis Le Vau as well as Charles Le Brun to work at Versailles.[15]
ThePalace of Versailles, or in FrenchChâteau de Versailles, is a royal château inVersailles, in theÎle-de-France region of France. When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a wealthy suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, whenLouis XIV moved from Paris, until theroyal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of theFrench Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building but also as a symbol of theabsolute monarchy of theAncien Régime.
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