.svg/35px-Blason_ville_fr_Valençay_(Indre).svg.png){kind=small}
| Valencay | |
 | |
| Information | |
| Country |  France |
|---|---|
| Area | 41,59 km² |
| Population | 2 351 hab. () |
| Density | 56,53 inhab./km² |
| Postal code | 36600 |
| Location | |
 47 ° 9 ′ 38 ″ N 1 ° 33 ′ 58 ″ E | |
| Official site | |
Valencay is a town in the department ofIndre, in France.
Understand
- Tourist Office of the Pays de Valençay 2 avenue de la Resistance,
33 2 54 00 04 42, e-mail : [email protected]
Valençay owes its name to the Gallo-Romain Valens who owned in this place a villa "Valenciacus" (Domaine de Valens). From the 3rd to the 5th century, workshops and buildings which housed among others an oven, a mill and a press were built around of this villa.It is a stone fortress which was built at the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century to defend the region. At that time, the Templars, for their part, founded a commandery beyond the Nahon river. In 1160, the lower town developed in turn. The town of the church was built around the abbey. A feudal castle appeared with the first lord of Valençay Bertrand Gauthier in 1220. One of his descendants, Alice of Burgundy, married Jean Bâtard de Châlon-Tonnerre in 1268. Exhausted by epidemics and the passage of troops, the small town of Valençay was granted a tax reduction in 1410 by Charles d'Orléans. 'Prints in 1451.Jacques 1er d'Estampes had the feudal castle razed in 1540 to begin construction of the current castle. The Estampes family will contribute to the development of the city. In 1642, Dominique d'Estampes and Marguerite de Montmorency were at the origin of the foundation of the Ursulines convent intended for the education of young girls.The city reached its apogee during the Grand Siècle: it included a provost, a tax attorney, a registry, a small tabellionage with notaries and a seal to contracts, of which the national archives have a fragment.The wheat trade, the transactions of lawsuits and arbitrations made it a small very active center.The progressive collapse of the family d'Estampes forced Henri-Hubert, ruined, to sell half of his estate to a financier named Law. The sale will nevertheless be stopped by decree of the king. In 1747, Jacques-Louis Chaumont de la Millière bought the land of Valençay. His daughter sold it in 1761 to Charles Legendre de Villemorien, farmer general of the king. He revived the city's economy by founding a cotton mill, several forges and renovating the castle.The Ursuline chapel was used as a place of popular meetings under the terror.Managing the city's forges, the Count of Luçay , son of Legendre de Villemorien, was almost guillotined. Hidden for three days in the forest of Gâtines, he was arrested and then acquitted thanks to his wife who presented him as "contractor of works useful to the Republic". In 1803 he ceded his domain to Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, then Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Consulate who only obeyed Bonaparte's orders. Valençay became home to the diplomatic corps, ambassadors and sovereigns. In 1808, the castle was chosen by Napoleon as the residence of the Princes of Spain in exile. Ferdinand of Spain, his brother Don Carlos and his uncle Don Antonio did not leave Valençay until 1814 after signing a treaty settling the Spanish affair. From 1816 Talleyrand contributed to the prosperity of the city. Member of the Municipal Council, mayor of Valençay (from 1754 to 1838) General Councilor, he reconstituted the spinning mill, founded by de Villemorien who then supplied the factories of Châteauroux and Issoudun and it received a medal at the Paris exhibition. had a new cemetery established and ceded land to build a town hall and the boys' school. He also founded the charity house, renovated the church whose steeple imitates that of Vevey in Switzerland, and lavished all the care on the castle.He built the orangery and the outbuildings and a small theater for the Princes of Spain. The city took advantage of technical progress with the arrival in the region in 1892, water and gas for lighting which gave rise to all kinds of celebrations among the population in 1877. The construction of the station as a stopover for the White - Money, allowed the activity of the city to increase.It was spared from the wars of 1870-1871 and 1914-1918.During the Second World War it was a place of parachuting of weapons and supplies for the maquisards hidden in the forests of Gâtines and Garsanland. , she suffered in particular from German reprisals. Arriving from Romorantin, the SS were looking for a wounded clandestine combatant. They visited the hospital, run by the sisters, which pretended to be a maternity hospital, took hostages and set the town on fire and bloodshed. Eight people were killed, around 40 buildings burnt down, including the post office and the house of charity, but the castle was spared thanks to the German origins of the Duke of Valençay and the curator of the Louvre museum who could parley. The firefighters of Châteauroux, Issoudun and Vatan were called in as reinforcements to extinguish the fires that lasted several days. the , the Croix de Guerre with bronze star was officially presented to the city of Valençay by the Minister of Reconstruction and Urban Planning.
To go
The town of Valençay is the capital of the Canton bearing the same name, in the department of Indre. Several access routes are possible:
You can also reach Valençay by train (Blanc-Argent line) or by bus (Aile Bleue departmental line).
Circulate
To see
- 1 Valençay Castle 2 Rue de Blois, 33 2 54 00 10 66, e-mail : [email protected] – Valençay probably owes the origin of its name to the domain of a Gallo-Roman named Valens. It was between the 3rd and 5th centuries that a villa appeared on this site, and at the end of the 10th century an important keep was erected there. The first feudal castle was built in 1220 with Bertrand Gauthier, Lord of Valençay. In 1451, the seigneury of Valençay passed into the hands of the Estampes family. It was around 1540 that Jacques Ier d'Estampes decided to have the first building razed to begin with that of the current castle. When the latter died, the north facade, the entrance pavilion and the corner towers, pure Renaissance masterpieces, were the only completed elements of the castle. Dominique d'Estampes continued work in the 17th century with the construction of the east and west wings, which he had connected by an arcaded wall, which has now disappeared. In 1767, Charles Legendre de Villemorien, Farmer General of the King, acquired the land of Valençay and had the castle restored. He built the southwest tower which dominates the Nahon valley. The latter's son, the Count of Luçay-le-Mâle, ceded the estate in 1803 to Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, who was only obeying the orders of the Emperor. From 1808 to 1814, the castle was assigned as the residence of the princes of Spain in exile by Napoleon. Talleyrand received his guests with dignity, making Valençay a veritable golden prison. On his death, the castle became the property of his nephew Napoleon-Louis Talleyrand-Périgord, Duke of Valençay and Sagan, Prince of Chalais. On his death, the succession was difficult, the movable collections were dispersed and the castle put up for auction with his land in 1901. During the Second World War, Boson de Talleyrand Périgord, Duke of Valençay, obtained a status of neutrality thanks to his title Prince of Sagan's German, therefore the castle housed national treasures (including some works from the Louvre) in order to preserve them from the Germans. After the death of the Duke of Valençay, Mr. Jean Morel, son-in-law of the Duke and universal legatee, ceded the castle and its park in 1976 to the Departmental Association of Management of the Castle of Valençay which consisted of the General Council of Indre , the City of Valençay, the Caisse du Crédit Agricole de l'Indre and the Caisse de Réassurance Agricole de l'Indre. Conservation was then ensured by Mr. François Bonneau, then by the company Culturespaces in 1996. In 2004, the Association changed its status to that of Syndicate: the Syndicat Mixte du Château de Valençay, which is made up of the General Council of the Indre and the City of Valençay. The Château obtained various distinctions; In 1992 it was entered in the register of historical monuments, moreover a project to classify the outbuildings is underway; The Michelin guide awards it three stars in the tourist destinations category; Similarly, the latter has included the City of Valençay in the guide of the most beautiful detours in France. Restoration work on the keep was undertaken in 2006 by the Syndicate and should end in 2009. Despite its remote location, the Château de Valençay has always been assimilated to the Châteaux of the Loire. Indeed, its Renaissance style and its architecture reminiscent of the Château de Chambord make it a must-see monument in our region.
- 2 Saint-Martin Church – Originally, the parish church of Saint-Martin was located at the approximate location of the current Halle au Blé. At the same time, and from the 11th century, another sanctuary has developed with its own church: the Benedictine Priory of Notre-Dame. During the Hundred Years War the monastery and its place of worship were burnt down and in the second half of the 15th century, the monks began to rebuild the deteriorated buildings. Both sanctuaries suffered significant damage during the Revolution. This is why the Priory Church, judged to be in better condition, was returned to the Concordat cult. In 1813 the old choir of the Priory Church, which constitutes the current apse, was restored at the expense of the Princes of Spain, in recognition of the healing of their mother, the ex-queen Maria-Luisa, while 'they were prisoners at the Château de Valençay. Restoration work on the church resumed around 1834 at the instigation of Talleyrand and his niece Dorothée de Dino who had a steeple erected inspired by that of the Saint-Martin church in Vevey in Switzerland. The Duchess of Dino ordered a large glass roof to replace the 15th and 16th century stained glass windows, representing Sainte Dorothée at the top and the coat of arms of the Talleyrand-Périgord and the Princes of Courland at the bottom with their respective mottos: Re Que Diou (Nothing but God) and Spero Lucem (I hope for the light). During this restoration, the workers found two coffins, one of which contained the bones of Louis d'Estampes, lord of Valençay in the 15th century. In 1862, the building underwent transformations with the connection of the nave to the choir. The Bourg de l'Eglise has developed and has become very active since the appearance of the monastery in the 11th century. At present, the Saint-Martin church, which sets the tone for this district, remains the soul of this small Valencian conurbation.
Do
To buy
Eat / Have a drink
Valençay is the only French town with 2 PDOs: cheese (la Pyramide) and wine. There are several restaurants and bars in the town center.
