Paris1972-Versailles2003

a wonderful castle in my lovely Bretagne just at the entrance of it. In our road warrior trips we have been to Vitré and have several posts on it in my blog. This time will just love to update for you and me the Château de Vitré, part II !!! Hope you enjoy it as I.

I like to come back to my region of Bretagne. Again, written general posts on the city of Vitré and its wonders, but feel once again a single post on the castle is merited and worth the visit by all those passing by. In our quest to take advantage of living here and with so much history and architecture around we took it upon ourselves to see as much as possible of my new region and it has been a blast! Let me tell you a bit more on the Castle of Vitré !!!

The Vitré castle is a powerful castle located at the western end of the fortified town of Vitré, in Ille-et-Vilaine,dept 35 of Bretagne and on the marches of Bretagne. The Vitré castle occupies the end of a schist spur overlooking the north of the Valley of the Vilaine and to the south a swampy brook, disappeared in the 18C to make way for the royal road from Paris to Rennes. The renovation of the castle c. 1420,  had another purpose, the affirmation of the lords’s power, shaken by the arrival of the English in Maine ,because the castle then was the refuge of the counts of Laval, especially when the English took Laval in 1427.

The Château de Vitré, wonderful castle, worth the detour ,me think. The castle is one of the most remarkable fortress in city center in France, and it is very nice richly decorated . The whole castle is in a parvis that once belongs to a monastery. The castle is done with huge walls surrounding it, and a huge courtyard, now housing the city hall or city govt offices, and a museum up the tour Saint Laurent across the ramparts to Tour de l’Argenterie and finally the tour de l’Oratoire. Each room is name after a famous personality related to the castle. I have been to the city hall on visit not tourism, and this time took the family so we saw the whole thing,and it is a must to visit here and Worth a detour just for it. The museum is loaded and richly shown with nice clean détails of life back then. There each room has a motif related to it like the Salle des Marchands d’Outre Mer saw how the merchants of the old French post lived, then Salle Henri de la Trémouille retraces the founders, Salle Claude-Etienne Savary, with silver utensils,  Chapelle Seigneuriale in the tour de l’oratoire or prayers tower with religious objects of great value, Salle Raoul David with paintings of the master with many scènes of castle life, chemin de ronde, a small cozy space for family life and heated; Salle Aimée des Nétumiéres, tapestries and uniform of French nobility. Richly wonderful, Worth the detour.

A bit on the architecture details I like tell us that the entrance facade to the east is preceded by a large esplanade called Place du Château (castle square). The entrance Châtelet dating from the 15C is composed of two towers in pepper-pots ,the north tower in rubble and south tower paired, topped by a gallery of machicolations Breton Sandstone and a double fortified floor.

The tower of the Oratory, also called the Chapel Tower, takes its name from the Renaissance apsidiole which adorns its facade the coat of arms of the Comte de Laval surrounded by the collar of the Order of St. Michael appear intertwined with those of his wives, Charlotte of Aragon, Anne de Montmorency and Antoinette de Daillon. Around the inner courtyard are distributed the seigneurial buildings, which became those of the City/Town Hall. The tower of the Oratory exhibits a triptych altarpiece consisting of 32 enamel plates of Limoges tracing the life of Christ and the Virgin.

The St. Lawrence Tower was the home of the governor. The four floors of this imposing tower are such that it acts as a dungeon. Built in the 15C on the site of a 13C tower, it collapsed in 1835 and was rebuilt around 1870.  The museum presents a collection of paintings depicting the history of Vitré and the evolution of French religious goldsmith from the 17C to the 20C. The Saint-Laurent tower houses, among others, sculptures from the 15-16C from Vitré’s houses, a Renaissance fireplace dating back to 1583, tapestries from Flanders from the 16C and Aubusson from the 17C, and the tomb of Guy X of Laval.

The official Castle of Vitré: http://chateau.vitre.bzh/

The city of Vitré on its heritage: https://www.mairie-vitre.com/-Town-of-Art-and-History-label-.html

The Vitré tourist office on the castle: https://en.bretagne-vitre.com/le-chateau-de-vitre/

Now you are all set to visit this enchanting castle right in city center Vitré on the frontiers of my lovely Bretagne, and worth the detour.  It was a very nice visit by us there, and sure worth a return. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Château of Vitré, part II !!! as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!