History Visit Luxury and poverty Lustre lost Information
History Visit Luxury and poverty Lustre lost Information
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History Visit Luxury and poverty Lustre lost Information
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History Visit Luxury and poverty Lustre lost Information
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English
Luxury and poverty...
In search of lost lustre
Cadillac chateau
Dogleg staircase: a staircase with straight flights
built around a central wall.
Enfilade: a suite of aligned rooms running
between the longitudinal walls of a building.
French-style fireplace: monumental fireplace with
prominent mantel and richly-decorated straight
chimney hood with painted or sculpted central
design.
Italian-style ceiling: wooden ceiling with
compartments framing painted scenes.
Malice: a small, concealed fountain which came
to life when someone passed by.
Moresque: marquetry design with a floral pattern.
Peer: one of the twelve men of high rank who
assisted the King at his coronation and in his
government.
Suspended spiral staircase: helical staircase with
steps supported by the wall and rising around
a central void.
A fabulously rich ducal chateau
Research and restoration
A dual heritage
Cadillac, whose riches so impressed the Duke
d’Épernon’s contemporaries, illustrated the
excessive nature of its owner, as described by
an English visitor in 1634:
“... the monument is truly magnificent. It has
60 bedchambers, arranged in very regal fashion.
There are 20 fireplaces, embellished with various
marbles and each one different, which decorate
the bedchambers. […]The walls are covered in
gold and silk tapestries which are worth more
than their weight in gold. But these are marvels
that are presented to me to admire, and not
to list.”
Recent university research has enabled the
identification of the use and furnishings of the
rooms, based on an inventory drawn up in 1652.
The chateau’s scientific plan is led by the Centre
des Monuments Nationaux to return the interiors
to their former glory, via acquisitions and the
reorganisation of its collections. Recent
restoration of the interior structure and décor
retained the most significant prison fittings:
doors, peepholes, grilles and individual cells
in the attics known as “chicken cages”.
Practical information
Average length of visit: 1 hour
Guided tours in French
Adapted tours available for disabled visitors.
Bookshop-giftshop
A guide book to this monument is available in the “ Itinéraires ”
collection, on sale in the bookshop-giftshop.
Centre des monuments nationaux
Château de Cadillac
33410 Cadillac-sur-Garonne
tél. 05 56 62 69 58
fax 05 56 62 60 73
www.monuments-nationaux.fr
crédit photo RMN. conception Plein Sens, Anders. réalisation Marie-Hélène Forestier. traduction ADT international. impression Stipa, octobre 2015.
Glossary
Characteristics of the
ducal collections
A hundred years as a prison
In the 19th century, this magnificent
building housed a population of “fallen girls”,
the repression of whom proved to be absolute,
in a world of imposed silence, of obsession with
order and of exemplary chastisement. Cadillac
once again became a place of excess, holding
the record for prison mortality and for the
worst treatment of prisoners in France. This
scandalously harsh regime came to an end
with the creation by the prison chaplain,
Father Jean-Joseph Lataste, of the Order of the
Sisters of Bethany in 1866, opening the doors
to religious life for prisoners who had
completed their sentence.
The Dukes of Épernon, who witnessed and often
even participated in the greatest events of their
time, acquired for the chateau a collection
of paintings and tapestries that were highly
representative of their rank and period. Often
used to decorate fireplace frames or specific
rooms (the Cabinet Doré, the Kings’ and Queens’
cabinet), portraits, historical or allegorical scenes
highlighted their grandeur. The collections of
ducal tapestries remained famous for being
so numerous and for their quality until most
of them were destroyed during the Revolution.
The ducal chateau
The Duke of
Épernon, early
17th century
Jean-Louis Nogaret de La Valette (1554-1642),
first Duke of Épernon, experienced a dazzling
rise in social rank. A Cadet de Gascogne,
he became a favourite of King
Henri III and accumulated
lucrative posts, being made
a Duke and Peer* of France,
Colonel General of the Infantry
and a governor of several
provinces. Henri IV made every
effort to sideline this powerful man, and
encouraged him to build a chateau worthy of his
rank far from the capital. Épernon, an opponent
of Richelieu, died in disgrace. His son Bernard,
second Duke of that name, completed the
building work and died without issue. The
chateau passed to distant, indirect relatives,
the Preissac family, who restored and updated it
before abandoning it to plunder during the
Revolution.
The prison chateau
The chateau was acquired by the state and
became a women’s prison in 1818, then closed
in 1890, when the building became a remand
centre for girls until 1952.
Since then, the chateau has undergone a series
of restoration programmes. The current revision
of the furnishings will enable the décor to fully
reflect its dual past.
*Explanations overleaf.
History Visit Luxury and poverty Lustre lost Information
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1 The main courtyard. Only the main building,
constructed between 1599 and 1610, and the
beginning of the wings, give an idea of the ducal
chateau’s original architecture archichiture,
considerably extended. The wings, lower than
the main building, and the entrance pavilion,
built in the 19th century to meet the needs of
the prison authorities, close off the courtyard
where inmates took their daily exercise.
The ground floor
The plan of the main building, with its enfilades*
of aligned rooms, grouped into apartments and
spread along both sides of a central staircase,
is typical of grand residences of the early
17th century. Each apartment consists of
a room used as a reception room and vestibule,
an antechamber with more refined décor to receive
important guests, and finally a bedchamber,
sometimes extending into a dressing room
or a cabinet.
2 The grand staircase, a dogleg staircase*
leads to the Royal and Ducal apartments.
The Duke’s apartment
These rooms were used as a chapel, a sacristy and
a small refectory for the nuns during the building’s
time as a prison.
3 The reception chamber has retained its fireplace
of polychrome marble and gilt stucco, but its rich
varnished floors and painted décor were destroyed
in the 1928 fire.
4 The antechamber has the oldest fireplace in the
chateau. The 18th century walnut armoire stands
by a 17th century tapestry.
5 In the Duke’s chamber is a bed with twisted
columns. The original Moresque* panelled ceiling
is painted with coffers in trompe l’œil that we can
also see on the lower panelling. The oratory
next door also retains its original ceiling.
Ground floor
First floor
Basements
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14
8
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9
7
6
3
2
13
12
10
11
15
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5
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The Duchess’ apartment
All of these rooms were used as the prison
infirmary in the 19th century. This apartment has
retained its painted ceilings and its monumental
French-style fireplaces* .
6 The reception chamber presents four tapestries
telling the story of Psyche, woven in Paris in the
17th century, and a portrait of Bernard, second
Duke of Épernon, inside the frame of the
fireplace hood.
7 The first antechamber, with its rare painted
ceilings depicting baskets of fruit and flowers
on a white background, houses three 16th century
tapestries on the theme of the Old Testament,
identical to those owned by the Duke of Épernon,
and a portrait of Anne-Marie-Louise d’Orléans,
known as “La Grande Mademoiselle”, a relation
of the d’Épernon family.
8 In the second antechamber, the only remaining
element of its original décor is the painted ceiling.
The current fireplace dates from the late
18th century, as does the golden cabinet with a
wooden mantle.
9 The “cabinet doré”, or golden cabinet, a small
room with refined décor, owes its name to the
walls which were formerly decorated with
golden panelling on which paintings were hung.
This arrangement, which disappeared in the
18th century, is today evoked by portraits of
Henri IV, Marie de Medici and Anne of Austria.
It has retained its remarkable Italian-style ceiling*
which illustrates the richness of the original décor.
The first floor
These two apartments were both used as
dormitories for prisoners.
The King’s apartment
In this enfilade of rooms, the fireplaces are
a testimony to the rich interior décor, dedicated
to the memory of Henri III.
10 In the chamber is a bust of the King on the
fireplace, and painted portraits of him and of his
wife, Louise de Lorraine, hang next to a tapestry
representing the Siege of La Rochelle woven at the
chateau and the Renaud and Armide wall hanging.
11 The antechamber retains its fireplace, which was
the most highly decorated in the chateau, with its
sculpted bas-relief on the mantel illustrating Fame
surrounded by military trophies, to highlight the
King’s military victories.
The Queen’s apartment
12 In the chamber hang five tapestries depicting
Theagenes and Chariclea according to Simon
Vouet, recounting their love story.
13 In the first antechamber, three tapestries from
Brussels illustrate great love stories from Greek
and Roman mythology. The painting on the rich
and exuberant décor of the fireplace represents
Queen Artemisia drinking the ashes of her
husband Mausolus.
14 The second antechamber with its unfinished
fireplace is decorated with two tapestries relating
episodes from the life of Queen Zenobia of Palmyra.
The basements
15 & 16 These two rooms on either side of the staircase,
converted into kitchens and pantries in the
17th century, are particularly bright. They were
used by Claude de Lapierre as a tapestry
workshop when he made the 27-piece tapestry
recounting the Life of Henri III for the chateau.
They then served as the prison refectory and
present an exhibition on the prison period.
17 & 18 The third pantry, the prison kitchen, leads to a
spectacular suspended spiral staircase* , a marvel
of precision in its design and stonework. It ran
from the top to the bottom of the building.
The garden
19 The prestigious ducal garden, a recent
reproduction, is still closed off by the
surrounding wall of the medieval bastide which
follows the course of the stream, the Oeuille.
The vast grounds lie beyond, which are now
a public park. This little garden, which used
to be a flower garden with grotto and malices* ,
was turned into the prison’s kitchen garden,
and it still contains the well where some
prisoners took their own lives. Redesigned in
the spirit of the classical garden, the perspective
of the chateau offered from the gardens is
different from that seen from the courtyard.
*Explanations overleaf.