Castle of Fléchères

the castle of Fléchères , built at the 17th century in the Dombes, is located on the commune of Fareins in the Ain, with 6 kilometers in the North-East of Villefranche-sur-Saône.

History

In 1606, Jean de Sève, rider, lord of Wheat and the Villette, receiver of finances in the general information of Lyon and provost of 1612 with 1614 of the merchants of this city, acquires the seigniory of Fléchères.

Between 1610 and 1616: on the site of a strong house which defended a ford on the the Saone, Jean de Sève builds a castle in only one work campaign. Confined of four square turns and girds broad ditches, the building preserves the medieval plan.

the extent of construction, exceptional in the area, is explained by the presence in the central main building of a Protestant temple of two hundred and fifty square meters. Since the edict of Nantes of 1598, the reformed worship was authorized only in the seigniories of high justice; convinced calvinist, the new owner profited from this privilege to install, on the last floor of the building, a place of worship which no external element made it possible to announce, excluded the three attic windows, of an unusual dimension, which symbolized the Trinité.

Surrounded by ditches, the site included/understood a garden with the Frenchwoman formerly. In 1632-1633, at the request of Mathieu de Sève, wire of Jean, the painter lucquois Pietro Ricci (1606-1675) constructs in ten rooms of the castle a whole of frescos representing of the scenes of hunting, of the characters in costumes of festival, the elements of architecture, the episodes of mythology… In the room known as “of Work of Hercules”, the combat of the hero against the Hydre de Lerne can be read as an allegory of the fight of the Christian against the sins but can also symbolize the combat of the Protestants (Hercules was famous being the legendary ancestor of the king Henri IV) against the Ligue.

Under the French revolution, the building did not have to suffer too much, but a fire which has occurred in 1793 affected the roofs of the commun runs and made disappear some elements from furniture as well as the files.

In 1820, a landscape park is arranged. It will be the last large building site of the castle.

With the beginning of the year 1980, the castle, property of a promoter since 1968, is almost left with the abandonment and following many flights (in particular part of the parquet floor of origin, found since) the services of the Ministère of the Culture are alarmed and consider the classification of the building. September 23rd, 1983, fault of the assent of the owner, the Minister for the Culture starts, as article 5 of the law of December 31st, 1913 authorizes there, the procedure (exceptional) known as of the “classification of office”. It is necessary to await the end of the year 1997 and the acquisition of the field by Marc Simonet-Lenglart and Pierre-Albert Almendros (owners of the castle of Cormatin in Burgundy) so that is to say committed - as of 1998 and for one period five years - a large campaign of restoration of the castle and its gardens.

the castle is now opened with the public.

Anecdotes

In 1968, the castle of Fléchères and its park were used as decorations with the film the Devil by the tail of Philippe de Broca.

Random links: