At the crossroads of Touraine, Anjou and Poitou, the town of Richelieu is a unique example of 17th-century town planning in France.
Situated in the Indre-et-Loire department, the town, or rather the village (population 1,700), is surrounded by ramparts protected by a moat, and takes the form of a rectangle measuring approximately 600 metres by 400 metres. You enter through one of the three gates. The village is listed as a historic monument, but remains a lively, inhabited place.
Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal de Richelieu (1585-1642), a powerful prince and minister of King Louis XIII, whom Aramis in The Three Musketeers refers to as the "Red Duke", has a project. To build a new town on the site of his family's castle. In 1631, he obtained permission from King Louis XIII to build a "walled and moated town". And on the site of the family estate where he had spent his childhood, a castle surrounded by a vast park (475 hectares) surrounded by walls.
He commissioned the star architect of the day to build it: Jacques Lemercier (1585-1654), who designed the dome of the Sorbonne and the Palais Royal in Paris. And he gave it a name that sounds like a trumpet: Richelieu (rich place).
A remarkable site at the gateway to the Loire Valley
Regularity and symmetry are the hallmarks of this remarkably well-preserved "ideal city", now a listed site. Richelieu gave a number of plots of land in the future "Grande Rue" to his friends, the nobles in his entourage. They were required to build a town house within two years, in accordance with precise rules designed to preserve the architectural harmony of the street. 28 town houses were built (14 on each side). Each end of the street leads to a square: Place Cardinale (now Place du Marché) and Place Royale (now Place des Religieuses). This is an exceptional example of town planning, with its chestnut-timbered covered market halls, 17th-century church, ramparts and the park that once housed the château.
The imprint of Cardinal de Richelieu
The shadow of this great man hangs over the town like a benefactor. Everything sings the praises of its founder: a statue, a museum and plaques to thank him for his generosity.
To have his court near him, the old du Plessis family château was no longer up to the task. It was demolished and replaced by a building worthy of its rank: with a façade over 110 metres long, preceded by a courtyard of honour surrounded by porticoed galleries and parkland surrounded by 7 km of walls. The château, adorned with two hundred antique statues, inspired Versailles. For La Fontaine "The whole is of a magnificence and grandeur worthy of the man who built it".
Confiscated during the Revolution and stripped of its furniture and works of art, it was returned in 1804 by Napoleon I to Armand Emmanuel du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu, and his two half-sisters. Due to a disagreement between the heirs, the estate (château and 400 hectares of parkland) was bought a year later by an estate agent, who demolished the château and sold the stones.
What remains today is the main entrance to the west, the horse riding arena (known as "the dome"), the cellars and the orangery. Passing through the side entrance, you will greet the statue of Richelieu and follow a path lined with chestnut trees that leads to a rose garden, the former site of the château. This site has been listed as a historic monument since 1930.
That same year, Armand, Marquis de Jumilhac, Duke of Richelieu, without an heir, bequeathed the estate to the University of Paris, in memory of the Cardinal, Principal and Renovator of the Sorbonne. The bequest was subject to one condition: the park (around one hundred hectares of the 475 hectares) had to be opened to the public.
Espace Richelieu
You can go back in time and see the 3D reconstruction of the château in the Espace Richelieu, housed in one of the former mansions lining the Grande Rue. The main staircase, grand gallery, currency room, flats of the Cardinal, flats of the King, the Queen and her ladies-in-waiting. What once was is no more.
The town house at 28, Grande Rue was listed as a historic monument in 1992. It was built on land donated by the Cardinal, according to a standard plan drawn up by the architect Jacques Lemercier. The actor Gérard Klein bought it in 1996 and had it completely restored. The municipality of Richelieu acquired it in May 2005 to create an interpretation centre on this remarkable town, on the vanished castle reconstituted in 3D and on the cardinal.
Tourist office - Place du Marché
37120 Richelieu / 02 47 58 13 62
www.azay-chinon-valdeloire.com
Text : Michèle Lasseur
A very interesting read that will encourage the curious to visit these places.