Château du Plessis-Bourré (Jean Bourré et le plafond de la salle des gardes)

Écuillé

At Écuillé, north of Angers, the Plessis-Bourré rises in the midst of wide moats. Jean Bourré (1426–1506), grand argentier and principal confidant of Louis XI according to Wikipedia, acquired the estate of Plessis-le-Vent on 26 November 1462. He had the present château built from 1468 to 1473, in only five years, on the site of an old manor. The moats do not touch the walls: a terrace of about three metres made it possible to station gunners. On the first floor, the guard room keeps a painted ceiling of 11 m by 7.55 m, dated to the last quarter of the 15th century (Palissy entry). Wikipedia counts 24 panels there by the anonymous painter: sixteen of alchemical inspiration, eight drawn from proverbs. They are said to have been hidden in the 18th century. The Bourré family kept the château until around 1750; the Ruillé family succeeded them in 1751, and Jean-Guillaume de Ruillé was executed in 1794. In 1851 an Angers notary, maître Avenant, bought it to prevent its conversion into a tuffeau quarry. Henri Vaïsse acquired it in 1911; it now belongs to the descendants of François Reille-Soult, duke of Dalmatia.

Getting there: At Écuillé, about fifteen kilometres north of Angers; private château, visiting conditions to be checked. Coordinates: OpenStreetMap (Nominatim) (position of the château in the database).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound