Château d'Anet - History and Description
The Chateau d’Anet is aFrench 16th-century castle,75 km west of
Paris, in the département of Eure-et-Loire.
In 1546 Diane de Poitiers, widow of Louis de Brézé, began to build a modest
house in the village of Anet; it underwent considerable and magnificent enlargement when her lover
Henry II became King of France and placed Philibert de L’Orme and virtually unlimited resources at
her disposal.
The Château d'Anet is built on a moated site around three
courtyards with gardens to the north. Around the middle court, the Cour du Seigneur, were three
residential wings and the entrance gate set in a screen wall.
To the east lay the estate farm buildings around the Basse Cour, while to the
west was the Cour de la Fontaine and beyond it the tennis-court, the stables and Diane de Poitiers’
burial chapel.
Largely demolished after the French Revolution, all that remains of this complex
are the entrance gate and screen wall, a section of the west wing, the frontispiece of the north
wing and parts of the cryptoporticus, the chapel in the east wing and the Basse Cour gateway.
The entrance gateway is a Doric triumphal arch of very unclassical type, derived
from the west portal of the Romanesque abbey of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard in Provence.
In the tympanum above the lintel, which bears a Latin inscription alluding to
Henry II and Diane de Poitiers, was a bronze relief by Benvenuto Cellini depicting the Nymph of
Fontainebleau, now replaced by a plaster copy.
On top of the gateway stands a bronze group; a deer surrounded by four hunting
dogs, formerly set in motion by a clockwork mechanism, alluding to Diana the huntress.
The chimneys flanking the entrance screen resemble sarcophagi, symbolizing the
eternal grief of Louis de Brézé’s widow. The cypresses on either side of the gateway represent the
grove where Diana hunted.
The north wing of the main courtyard, already begun before de L’Orme was
engaged, was refaced, with a three-storey frontispiece articulated by the Doric, Ionic and
Corinthian orders in its centre.
Château d'Anet Visitor Information
Château d'Anet is located in Anet, about
78 km far from Paris and about 16 km from Dreux.
Opening
times:
April - 1st of October - the
castle is open every day except Tuesday, between 14,00 - 18,00
In November,
and between 1st of February - 31 of March - the castle is open only in
saturdays and sundays, between 14,00 and 17,00.
Contact
details:
Email: anet@chateaudanet.com
Phone: 02.37.41.90.07.
Fax : 02 37 41 96 45
Official website: chateaudanet.com
Visit the other Loire Valley
Castles:
Chateau de Chambord,
Chateau de Brissac,
Chateau de Blois,
Chateau d Azay le Rideau,
Chateau de Chenonceau
Château d’Anet Map&Location
Château d'Anet Address: Place du Château, 28260 Anet, France. Get help with directions:
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