On my road warrior campaigns in the Loire Valley i have to see many many castles of beauty beyond description even if I try, I heard about this castle and decided to give it a run; very impressive. This is a new text and older pictures but new in my blog ; see my previous post on the castle. This one is in the region of Pays de la Loire and the department 49 of Maine et Loire! I will be telling you a bit more about the Château de Brézé,interiors !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
First, Brézé became on January 1, 2019 a town delegate of new town of Bellevigne-les-Châteaux. A recurring phenomenon in my France. The Château of Brézé is a monument of which a vast underground gallery was discovered, a castle under the castle. Worth the detour me think. The old town of Bréze is only 10 km from Saumur.
The first lords of Brézé made many donations to the Abbaye de Fontevraud,(see post) located nearby. Among the most famous lords, Louis de Brézé, who married Diane de Poitiers, (see post Anet) named Diane de Saint Vallier. At the time of king Louis XVI, Henri Evrard de Dreux-Brézé, Grand Master of Ceremonies, took the decision to launch very substantial works. First of all, in order to enlarge the Renaissance part, subsequently his son and his grandson each in turn continued the work to transform the Château de Brézé into a neo-Gothic style castle. Within the castle, it is possible to visit the largest underground bakehouse in France, equipped with an impressive fireplace. The castle of a neo-Gothic style can be seen best by the Grand Gallery, the Square Tower and a rotunda at the base of the Clock Tower.
The largest troglodyte bakery in France is a monumental fireplace with three ovens in which bread and sweets were baked. This strange labyrinth leads to the room of the presses and that of the casks where the wine was once made. It also reveals a walkway, old stables and an astonishing cavity called Image Cathedrals. It is here, on the walls of the old seigneurial cellars, that Brézé is told in images projected over more than 4,000 m². It also has the deepest dry moat in Europe with their 18 meters.
We thus enter the largest underground fortress in Europe, sculpted over kilometers of a network of cavities and tunnels. This troglodyte village has preserved its stables, its bakery, a 17C silkworm factory and the presses in which the most appreciated wine was made on the royal tables of the 15C. Even today, Château de Brézé cultivates its 28 hectares of vines and produces different cuvées that you will have plenty of time to taste. From the 16C, the cuvées from his vineyard were praised by King René of Anjou, then by the great poet Joachim du Bellay who dedicated these few lines to them: “His Nectar seasons us, Nectar gives it to us, My sweet vineyard Brézéen…” It is even said that this Saumur was one of king Louis XIV’s favorite wines! The reputation of the château’s wines is such that its barrels will be exchanged at equal value for those of the Château d’Yquem. The vineyard, planted with Chenin and Cabernet Franc, has the particularity of being made up of unique plots, each of which benefits from special care. Thus each cuvée bears the name of the plot from which it comes: Clos David, Clos de la Rue, Clos du Tue-Loup, Clos de l’Étoile and Clos Bonne-Nouvelle. Since 2009, the 28 hectares of vines have been oriented towards organic viticulture and biodynamics, in accordance with the noble currents of our time: working the vine while respecting it.
In 1959, Charlotte de Dreux-Brézé married Count Bernard de Colbert, a descendant of the great minister of king Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Since then, the Château de Brézé has belonged to the same family, which puts all its passion into the renovation work of the château. Some remarkable photos you will see here are the ones on Louis XVII the son of king Louis XVI ,that was assassinated by the revolutionaries as well as that of Henri V to be, the late Count of Chambord! There are also of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII in the Grand Galerie!
There is plenty of free parking outside and you walk in with grandeur to the ticket office with the old stables on your left and the pigeon house right next door before you face on the beautiful
castle. The castle of Breze is a private property belonging to Jean de Colbert, son of the late Count Bernard de Colbert and the late Marquise Charlotte de Dreux-Breze. However, it is open to the public.
The Château de Brézé hosts the time of a weekend a tournament. This medieval joust brings visitors back to the days of armored knight battles. The show is livened up by multiple animations and workshops in the park of the castle, transformed for the occasion into a medieval village. The Château de Brézé is mentioned by Marcel Proust in the second part of “Du Côté de Guermantes”. In the novel, the castle is presented as having been the property of the late wife of the Baron de Charlus, who would then have made a gift to his sister, Madame de Saint-Loup. “Brézé, it’s royal!” says Charlus. This assertion of one of the characters of La Recherche and which appears as a Proustian fiction, is not entirely unfounded if one considers that Breze belonged a time to the Grand Condé who, by their relationship with Louis XIV (they were his cousins first cousins) were what were called “princes of the blood” (of royal blood). Proust’s novel thus presents the castle of Breze as a Royal residence likely to be worth millions.
The official Château de Bréze : https://www.chateaudebreze.com/castle-france-loire-saumur.html
The Saumur tourist office on Bréze : https://www.ot-saumur.fr/BREZE_a13289.html
There you go folks, an additional info on the castle, again worth the detour to see this marvel of the outer limits of the Loire Valley in that other region of Pays de la Loire. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Château de Brézé, interiors !!!
And, remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 