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Château de Sansac à Loches en Indre-et-Loire

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine défensif
Demeure seigneuriale
Château de style Renaissance

Château de Sansac

    22 Rue du Docteur-Martinais
    37600 Loches
Private property
Crédit photo : ManuD - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Bas Moyen Âge
Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
1529
Construction of the central house
XIXe siècle
Addition of low wings
2 juillet 1899
Sale of the original bust
12 mai 1927
Historical monument classification
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Château de Sansac (Case AS 114): inscription by order of 12 May 1927

Key figures

Louis Prévost de Sansac - Builder of the castle Originally from Saintonge, give his name.
François Ier - King of France Represented by a bust on the facade.
Girolamo della Robbia - Suspected Sculptor Probable author of the original bust.
Armand-Charles-Marie de Riencourt - War Commissioner Died at the castle in 1787.
Antoine Berthon - Owner in 1899 Paris engineer, buy the castle.

Origin and history

Sansac Castle is a Renaissance building built in the early 16th century in Loches, Indre-et-Loire. His name comes from his sponsor, Louis Prévost de Sansac, whose surname is linked to a saintly estate. The date of 1529, engraved on a bust of Francis I above the front door, probably marks the completion of the central part. This bust, considered one of the king's most faithful portraits, was attributed to the workshop of Girolamo della Robbia, but the original was sold at auction in 1899 and its trace is now lost.

The castle, located in the east of the town centre of Loches, on the banks of Indre, has had several notable owners. In the 17th century, it belonged to Madeleine Luthier, widow of François de Vonnes, who bequeathed it to Bonne-Catherine Luthier. After the Revolution, he was acquired by Cyprien-Joseph-Louis de Bridieu and his wife Élisabeth Mallevaud de Marigny. Their son, François Henri Antoine de Bridieu, was born there. In 1899 Antoine Berthon, a Parisian engineer, became the owner of the castle before the castle passed to Mr. Jahan de Lestang in 1914.

Architecturally, the castle consists of a central house on one floor, surmounted by a top between two high gables, flanked by two pavilions without floor. Two low wings, added in the 19th century, extend the whole. The access stairway, adorned with four pairs of groined bays in full hanger, ends with a bell. A double frieze of circles, present on the facade, was reproduced on the 19th century pavilions. The castle has been listed as historical monuments since 12 May 1927.

Among the remarkable elements, the bust of Francis I, now replaced by a copy, attests to the historic importance of the site. The castle was also the home of Armand-Charles-Marie de Riencourt, war commissioner and knight of Saint-Louis, who died there in 1787. The communes, built apart, complement this emblematic ensemble of the Touran Renaissance.

External links