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The Palais Jacques Cœur is a large hôtel particulier built by Jacques Cœur for himself and his family in Bourges, France. Built and decorated in the flamboyant style, it is widely viewed as one of the most prominent examples of French civilian architecture in the 15th century. [1]
Jacques Cœur, who was born in Bourges and started his career there, bought the land in 1443 from Jean Belin, a canon of the Sainte-Chapelle de Bourges . [2] Coeur did not have time to enjoy it, however, as he was arrested in 1451, tried and subsequently exiled. Construction works were completed in 1453, at a time he was imprisoned. King Charles VII seized the property as Cœur was sentenced, but restored it to Cœur's children in 1457, after Cœur himself had died in exile the year before.
In 1501, one of Jacques Cœur's grandsons sold it to Antoine Turpin, a local notable, who in turn sold it in 1552 to diplomat Claude de l'Aubespine, baron de Châteauneuf. In May 1679, it was attributed to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who in January 1682 returned it to the City of Bourges. After that, it hosted various municipal services. [3]
The palace suffered some damage during the French Revolution, when the large equestrian statue of Charles VII above the main entrance was destroyed. In 1820, it became a court house, hosting the tribunal d'instance and the cour d'appel of the Cher department. Prosper Mérimée identified it in 1837 as a major cultural property, and it was subsequently listed on France's first list of historic monuments of 1840. [4] The Bourges municipality sold it to the département and the state in 1858, after which a first restoration campaign lasted until 1885.
In the 1920s, the Cher département sold its share to the French state and the court activities were discontinued. A second, much more careful restoration campaign was led by architects Henri Huignard and Robert Gauchery from 1927 to 1937. The stonework was again cleaned up in the early 2000s.
The Palais Jacques Cœur is now managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux and open to the public as a major local tourism attraction.
The Château de Cheverny is located in Cheverny, Loir-et-Cher, France. It is one of the châteaux of the Loire Valley.
Bourges is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry.
The Château de Chenonceau is a French château spanning the river Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire Valley.
Ussé is a castle in the Indre-et-Loire département, in France. The stronghold at the edge of the Chinon forest overlooking the Indre Valley was first fortified in the eleventh century by the Norman seigneur of Ussé, Gueldin de Saumur, who surrounded the fort with a palisade on a high terrace. The site passed to the Comte de Blois, who rebuilt in stone.
Jacques Cœur was a French government official and state-sponsored merchant whose personal fortune became legendary and led to his eventual disgrace. He initiated regular trade routes between France and the Levant. His memory retains iconic status in Bourges, where he built a palatial house that is preserved to this day.
The Château d'Anet is a château near Dreux, in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France, built by Philibert de l'Orme from 1547 to 1552 for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France. It was built on the former château at the center of the domains of Diane's deceased husband, Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, Marshal of Normandy and Master of the Hunt.
Sancerre is a medieval hilltop town (ville) and commune in the Cher department, France overlooking the river Loire. It is noted for its wine.
Château de Bonaguil is a castle in the French commune of Saint-Front-sur-Lémance, but actually owned by the neighbouring commune of Fumel in the Lot-et-Garonne département. It has been classified as a Monument historique since 1862.
French Gothic architecture is an architectural style which emerged in France in 1140, and was dominant until the mid-16th century. The most notable examples are the great Gothic cathedrals of France, including Notre-Dame Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, and Amiens Cathedral. Its main characteristics were the search for verticality, or height, and the innovative use of the rib vault and flying buttresses and other architectural innovations to distribute the weight of the stone structures to supports on the outside, allowing unprecedented height and volume. The new techniques also permitted the addition of larger windows, including enormous stained glass windows, which filled the cathedrals with light. The French style was widely copied in other parts of northern Europe, particularly Germany and England. It was gradually supplanted as the dominant French style in the mid-16th century by French Renaissance architecture.
Menetou-Salon is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Inhabitants of the area are known as Monestrosaloniens.
Ernest-Paul Sanson was a French architect trained in the Beaux-Arts manner.
Château d'Ainay-le-Vieil is a 14th-century castle built on the grounds of an earlier 12th century castle in Ainay-le-Vieil, Cher, France. After having bought the castle from Jacques Cœur, Charles de Bigny built a pre-Renaissance Louis XII style chateaux from 1500 to 1505. The castle has been listed as a Monument historique since 1968 by the French Ministry of Culture. The castle, now part of Jacques Cœur's tourist route, has been nicknamed "the little Carcassonne" because of its circular shape. Today the castle is one of the best preserved fortresses of the 14th century.
The Château de Vaujours is a ruined castle from the 12th and 15th centuries, located in the commune of Château-la-Vallière in the Indre-et-Loire département of central France. It was part of the seigneurie (manor) of Chasteaux-en-Anjou, the future Château-la-Vallière.
The Château d'Azay-le-Rideau is located in the town of Azay-le-Rideau in the French département of Indre-et-Loire. Built between 1518 and 1527, this château is considered one of the foremost examples of early French renaissance architecture. Set on an island in the middle of the Indre river, this picturesque château has become one of the most popular of the châteaux of the Loire valley.
The Château d'Augerville is a historic château, situated in the commune of Augerville-la-Rivière, Loiret, France. It is a monument historique, a national heritage site of France.
The Musée du Berry is a museum in Bourges, France. Its collection was founded by Claude-Denis Mater in 1834. At first, the museum was housed in part of the Palais Jacques-Cœur, and later in what is now the Hôtel d'Angleterre on rue Jacques Cœur. In 1891, it moved to its present home in the Hôtel Cujas. It was renamed the Musée du Berry in 1912.
Neoclassicism is a movement in architecture, design and the arts which was dominant in France between about 1760 to 1830. It emerged as a reaction to the frivolity and excessive ornament of the baroque and rococo styles. In architecture it featured sobriety, straight lines, and forms, such as the pediment and colonnade, based on Ancient Greek and Roman models. In painting it featured heroism and sacrifice in the time of the ancient Romans and Greeks. It began late in the reign of Louis XV, became dominant under Louis XVI, and continued through the French Revolution, the French Directory, and the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Bourbon Restoration until 1830, when it was gradually replaced as the dominant style by romanticism and eclecticism.