Les Journées du Patrimoine ( Heritage Days)

the chateau de Michel de Montaigne

Last weekend was Heritage Open days at historical sites all over France. Many of these sites are open most of the year, but some, like the Chateau de Michel Montaigne, are privately owned and only open to the public on these special days. I think the idea is to encourage the french to take the whole family and absorb some of their local history.

Michel de Montaigne was the same height as Napoleon and Nicolas Sarkozy - make of that what you will !

Michel de Montaigne was a writer and philosopher in the 16^th century and his work is highly regarded in France. At this time, during the wars of religion, the population of the area was protestant, but Michel de Montaigne was a catholic. As the local ‘big wig’ he was in a position to make life difficult for the peasants in his domain, but Michel was a man of intelligence and understanding and always made an effort to show tolerance to everyone. There is a story that once there was a group of brigands planning to attack his chateau, the fact that he was catholic being part of their problem with him. He heard of their plan and had a great feast prepared and set out in the courtyard inside the walls. Michel never closed the gates to the chateau as a sign of his openness to the local people. The brigands thought this was pretty dumb and expected they would have an easy time of it. When they approached the walls, Michel greeted them warmly and invited them to enjoy the feast. Some time later they left empty handed but happy. As an intellectual, he was so highly regarded that he was retained as an adviser by both sides during the war in an effort to find a peaceful resolution.

the tower and the entrance gates to the courtyard

in his library where he worked

to inspire him, he had quotes of famous writers in greek and latin written on the ceiling beams in his library 

He was a great success as mayor of Bordeaux for two terms and travelled widely in europe - some say to get away from his family. His home life wasn’t very happy as he didn’t get along with his wife, his daughter or his mother who all lived with him. Luckily the chateau was large enough that he was able to divide it into sufficient living quarters for all of them. His mother and daughter lived in the grand chateau, he lived in one of the towers and his wife lived in the other – comparative peace and harmony.

the front door

one of the original towers

Michel was very well educated for his time and read extensively. He amassed a library so large it was famous in Europe. He took to writing and hardly ever left his tower which even had a tiny chapel so that he could hold his own catholic services ‘in house’ and thereby not offend his neighbours.

Yes, it's autumn - the courtyard within the walls

Michel's tower from the park outside the walls

We were lucky to have as our guide in the tower a student of Michel de Montaigne’s work. Julia was South African and spoke fluent english and french, and had also learned to read old french so that she could study Michel de Montaigne’s work in the original. A very learned girl. She made his story very entertaining and well worth the visit.

the chateau from the valley side

For our tour of the chateau we had a french guide, so not so easy. The house is privately owned but no longer in the de Montaigne family, and is just one of a number of houses in France belonging to the current owners and only visited by them in the summer ( as you do). We were only given access to the main ground floor rooms – the dining room, the grand salon, the petit salon, the library and the hall.

vineyards and forests

remains of the garden walls

Michel's tower from the garden

Unfortunately, photos were not permitted so you can only imagine the grand proportions of these public rooms . As the chateau is on the top of a hill and these rooms all open into the garden, there are fabulous views of the valley below full of vineyards and forest, and small farmhouses.  

the driveway 

Vistas in le parc

the surrounding countryside

Inside , the rooms are full of original old pieces of furniture, some of it grand, some not so. It was a surprise to see a large old tv set amongst all the clutter. The walls are covered in fabric, but a little tatty around the edges and discoloured by centuries of smoke from the open fireplaces. The french tend to like their antiques to show their age and they certainly did here amongst the family photos, souvenirs from family holidays, and the artwork by one of the family (strange). The collection of weapons on the walls of the entrance hall remind you that there have been troubled times here over the centuries when it was necessary to defend against attack. Another surprise was that the chateau has central heating through enormous cast iron grates in the floors and fed by wood burning boilers, so not as cold and damp as some of these places can be.

While the chateau was originally built in the 14^th century, there was a serious fire in 1885 and parts were rebuilt and redesigned in the style we see today. During Michel de Montaigne’s time the chateau was visited by the king of Navarre, later King Henry IV of France who became a great friend. In more recent times , Charles de Gaulle stayed here during a visit to the region.

the grapes are ready for picking

Naturally, they also produce their own wines. For those who are interested, they are AOC Bergerac and situated on the border with St Emilion. Graham naturally bought a case – as a souvenir

smokers are always catered for...

one of the inhabitants of the courtyard

  

 In our relentless search for new places to show our guests we are willing to go anywhere ( well, almost). If there is somewhere in the south west of France that you are curious about, just let us know and we will put it on our list of places to visit and share it with you here. 

Bon week-end mes amis