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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Manor House of La Bélagerie, located in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire (Indre-et-Loire), is a building originally built by Beschel around 1619. He changed owners several times, notably in 1752, when the widow Bellanger acquired. The main house body, flanked by two pavilions and surrounded by terraced gardens, reflects a typical architecture of the second half of the eighteenth century.

In the 19th century, the mansion passed into the hands of local personalities, including P. Besnardeau and Louis-Eugène Porcherot, both mayors of Saint-Cyr. He gained a special reputation in the 20th century when the writer Anatole France lived there from 1914 until his death in 1924. This place, marked by its literary history, was inscribed in historical monuments in 1941.

The communes, organized in return for square, and the gardens overlooking the valley complete this architectural ensemble. The mansion illustrates both the evolution of bourgeois residences in Touraine and their role in French cultural life, thanks in particular to the presence of Anatole France, Nobel Prize winner of literature.

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