depliant guide - Château d`Angers

Visit
The Apocalypse tapestry
Information
History
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Visit
The Apocalypse tapestry
L
Information
History
L
Visit
The Apocalypse tapestry
Information
English
Glossary
Angevin vaulting: a highly curved Gothic vault
(with intersecting ribs).
Blanche of Castile (1188-1252) governed during
the childhood of her son Louis IX.
Borrowed light: an opening in an inner wall
providing indirect lighting and placed high up
to provide privacy.
Fall-trap: an opening placed high up and used
for dropping projectiles on assailants.
Loophole and gun-loop: openings made in a wall
for firing weapons, a narrow vertical slit for
arrows and a broader one for cannons.
Neolithic: the most recent prehistoric period
from 4000 to 2500 BC.
Pepperbox turret: a conical roof.
Portcullis: vertically sliding grille.
Practical information
Average length of visit: 1½ hours.
Go-as-you please tours, guided tours,
themed tours. Audio-guide tours in French,
English, German, Italian and Spanish. Young
people’s version available in French.
Adapted tours for disabled visitors.
Bookshop and gift shop
The guide to this monument is available in the bookshop in three
different languages as part of the “Itinéraires” collection.
Centre des monuments nationaux
Château d’Angers
Promenade du Bout-du-Monde
49100 Angers
tél. 02 41 86 48 77
fax 02 41 87 17 50
[email protected]
crédits photos E. Jabol © Archives départementales de Maine-et-Loire. illustration Claude Quiec. conception Plein Sens, Anders. réalisation Marie-Hélène Forestier. traduction InPuzzle. impression Stipa, juillet 2013.
History
The Apocalypse tapestry
The subject matter
An outstanding commission
This tapestry is an illustration of the Apocalypse
according to St John or the “Book of Revelation”,
the last text in the New Testament.
This text, written at the end of the 1st century
AD, recounts the prophetic visions of St John
and the struggle between Good and Evil. After
a series of catastrophes afflicting humanity,
Christ emerges triumphant. The tapestry also
offers a realistic representation of the period
when it was created, with the Hundred Years
War, famine and plague.
The Apocalypse tapestry is the oldest surviving
set of tapestries of this size (100m). It is a highly
prestigious work and was commissioned in 1375
by Louis I, Duke of Anjou and brother of King
Charles V. It took seven years to make which
is quick for a work of this size. Jean de Bruges,
the painter to the King, created the cartoons. It is
made entirely of wool and originally comprised
six tapestries measuring 6 metres high and
23 metres long. Each piece starts with a major
figure followed by two rows of seven scenes
between a strip of sky and strip of earth.
A tumultuous history
When Louis II, the son of Louis I, married
Yolanda of Aragon in 1400, the tapestry was
displayed in the courtyard of the Archbishopric
of Arles, and a contemporary account testifies
to it as an object of great beauty. In 1480,
it was bequeathed to Angers Cathedral by
the last Duke of Anjou, King René. In the late
18th century, it was regarded as old-fashioned
and was severely mutilated. When its true
value was appreciated once again in the
mid-19th century, it was restored. In 1954,
the tapestry was returned to the castle,
which the Army had just left.
Angers Chateau
A royal fortress
A fortress and sumptuous residence
The site, a rocky promontory overlooking
the River Maine, has been occupied by man
since the Neolithic* period.
In the 9th century, the threat from the Normans
led the Count of Anjou to settle there. Three
centuries later, when the powerful Plantagenet
dynasty reigned over the Anjou, a veritable
palace was built here.
In the 13th century, the Regent Blanche
of Castile* had a fortress built as a place
to mass royal troops.
In the 14th and 15th century, the Dukes of Anjou,
Louis I, Louis II, and King René, enlightened
princes and art lovers, conducted a brilliant
court life from within the shelter of the fortress.
Interpretation
Each piece is surrounded by a white frame. The
scenes run from left to right starting at the top.
The tapestry presents three series of seven
plagues. First the opening of the seven seals in
the Book of Revelation, where each broken seal
corresponds to a plague. The first plague is
the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1st piece
along the bottom). Then when the seven trumpets
sound, the natural elements rage (2nd piece).
Lastly, seven Angels pour out vials over the Earth,
completing the series of plagues (5th piece). The
third piece shows the story of the two witnesses
and that of the Woman escaping from Satan,
who is represented by a dragon accompanied by
two acolytes. The 4th piece shows him tempting
mankind. His elimination, the destruction of
Babylon, and the arrival of the Heavenly
Jerusalem on earth, symbolising Paradise,
are portrayed on the 5th and 6th pieces,
illustrating the happy ending
to St John’s Revelations.
A military enclosure and prison
Engraving
of the castle
in the
16th century
At the end of the
16th century, at the
height of the Wars of
Religion, a governor
of the fortress, Donadieu
de Puycharic, the
representative of King Henri III (1574-1589)**,
had the roofs of the towers and the ramparts
levelled. This adapted the fortress to advances
in artillery. It was subsequently occupied by
the Army and frequently acted as a prison.
www.monuments-nationaux.fr
*Explanations overleaf.
**Dates of beginning and end of reign.
History
Visit
L
The Apocalypse tapestry
Information
access to BC 12 and 14
B
Two intertwined architectures
The castle is impressive from the outside with
an enclosure nearly half a kilometre long,
and 17 towers of dark schist (or slate)
alternating with pale limestone. These towers
stand about 30 metres high and have three or
four rows of loopholes* , some of which have
been replaced by gun-loops* . Each gate of
the castle was defended by a system of
portcullises* and fall-traps* .
1 Near the reference map inside the fortress
there are views over the entire gardens and
elegant buildings laid out on over 20,000m2.
The seigniorial residence
In the 14th and 15th centuries, a set of buildings
laid out around a courtyard acted as a private,
residential and administrative area that was
separated off from the rest of the fortress.
2 The 15th-century fortified gateway, with
its picturesque corner towers adorned with
pepperbox turrets* , is the entrance porch
to the seigniorial courtyard.
3 The seigniorial courtyard in the south-west
corner of the fortress is bounded by various
buildings built by the Counts and Dukes of
Anjou between the 9th and the 15th century,
and by the 20th-century Apocalypse tapestry
gallery.
4
The royal residence
This was built by King René between 1435
and 1440. It is made up of two rooms which
are flanked by a gallery to the north. A spiral
staircase in a turret visible on the north facade
provides access to the three floors of
the building.
9
D
They are wrought iron works showing in
reduced size the volumes and openings of
the rooms. Crystal neon lights at the centre
give a red, green, blue, or yellow atmosphere
to each room.
11 The Governor’s lodging dates from the
18th century and incorporates an older element,
a 15th-century slate stair turret.
12 The Apocalypse Gallery is an L-shaped building
that was erected in the middle of the 20th century
on the site of former buildings, and redeveloped
in 1996. It houses the vast Apocalypse tapestry.
(See tapestry commentary overleaf).
12
11
10
2
8
13
5
4
3
1
7
A
A entrance and exit
B toilets
C bookshop and gift shop
D restaurant
Four models presented on the ground floor of
the residence show what the site looked like
from the 9th through to the 18th century.
On the first floor are the apartments of King
René, with the drawing room where he studied
on the chapel side, and the chamber where he
received guests on the west. The remains of
an original painted decoration of plant motifs
may be seen in the opening around the borrowed
light* . All of the rooms in the residence once
had monumental fireplaces that no longer exist,
but traces of which may still be seen.
The second floor was reserved for the Duchess.
5 The single nave chapel, built around 1410
by Louis II and his wife Yolanda of Aragon,
is distinctive for its ample proportions, Angevin
vaulting* , and its private heated oratory.
The enclosure
6 The Mill Tower once had a windmill on top. It
is the only tower to have retained its original
height, standing about 40 metres tall.
6
N
7 The parapet walk on the ramparts was
redeveloped at the end of the 14th century after
the levelling of the towers, which once stood
ten or so metres higher and were topped by
slate pepperbox turrets* . An earth rampart
inside the walls of the enclosure formed
artillery terraces.
8 The plantations include vines and a hanging
garden planted with medicinal and aromatic
species that were known in the Middle Ages,
plants used for dyeing, as well as other vegetation
shown on the Apocalypse tapestry.
9 The field gateway was originally the main
entrance to the castle. It is composed of
two broad towers with a complicated defensive
system. A first fall-trap* , covered with a grille,
is visible on the floor of the terrace.
10 The porch of the field gateway contains
the portcullis* dating from 1370-1384 which
is still in place today, followed by a second
fall-trap* . The second portcullis* and wooden
gates no longer exist. Contemporary works by
the conceptual artist Sarkis are hung from the
vaults of the four rooms in the field gateway.
Traces of the earliest phases
of occupation
13 The walls of the great Hall and the Saint-Laud
Chapel are the most important remaining parts
of the palace built by the Counts of Anjou from
the 10th century onwards.
14 The archaeological zone includes a cairn
(a sepulchral monument from the Neolithic*
period) in the foreground, the oldest trace
of occupation of the site. Further back are two
heated rooms from the Roman period. The one
on the left has a fireplace and wastewater
drainage, whilst pipes inside the walls of
the other one were used to heat a bathroom
on the floor above used by the Counts of Anjou
in the 10th century.
*Explanations overleaf.