Often times while visiting various cultural monuments, I’m looking at how those behind the scenes try to provide a sense of harmony between the space they have to work with and the artifacts they have to exhibit.
If you think about it, the Loire Valley châteaux can pose many problems to those hoping to share the castle’s history as well as highlight its architectural details. If the estate is fortunate enough, it will have ample furniture, faïence, paintings, sculptures and other artifacts dating back to the appropriate époque of history in order to fill enough rooms to attract an audience. Chenonceau and Amboise are great examples, both complete with meticulously restored painted ceilings, wallpaper, furniture and appropriate fine arts.
Villandry has more than just beautiful gardens. Its interior is decorated in various styles paying homage to the families who lived in the château over the centuries.
Estates lacking in substantial artifacts may choose to resort to multimedia. A wonderful example is the Fortresse Royale de Chinon. Each brochure contains a microchip that can be scanned at marked stations to watch or listen to a clip with information regarding a specific aspect of the medieval castle, including the story of Joan of Arc who traveled to Chinon to visit King Charles VII.
Visitors can enjoy various reenactments of significant events in the early history of Chinon.
Not all multimedia ideas are executed well. The installations and multimedia in the little château of Montsoreau, however creative in their incorporation of modern technology, was irrelevant and impersonal. For example, one room had information on graffiti and how it can provide insight into someone’s life. However, nowhere in the château was there an example dating back to the height of its history. Were they encouraging us to carve in its walls to become a part of its future? The curators, while they may have tried, failed to accentuate one of the château’s most significant contributions to history. After all, it is the site of Alexandre Dumas’ historic novel, La Dame de Monsoreau.
Casts of “graffiti,” or at least made to look like graffiti, showing ships etched in the plaster. Still confused on how it pertained to the history of the château.
The best method I’ve come across for châteaux that lack either a substantial collection, the funds to immaculately restore the rooms, or both, has been to transform the space into contemporary art expositions. I first stumbled across this idea during my visit to Chambord back in October. While the château has many lovely rooms completely furnished and restored, they turned what would be empty walls into art space. Beautiful black and white photography was placed along the arched wings off the famous central staircase. The contemporary art contrasted beautifully against the ornately decorated coiffure ceiling built under Francois 1 (who began the extensive project in 1519) during the French Renaissance. [I'll post a picture when I get back to my village next week]
An example of Chambord’s collection of Renaissance art in this lovely restored room (The Governor’s Room).
The château I thought succeeded most in bringing harmony between the old and the new, the antique and the avant-garde was by far the Château de Chaumont.Twenty years ago, the administration of Chaumont decided to invite contemporary artists who work with nature to exhibit within the château gardens. The result was so successful that Chaumont continues to house regular expositions from some of the worlds leading contemporary artists.
Chaumont is now world-renowned for its incorporation of contemporary art into their beautiful gardens.
But it’s not simply the artwork that makes the expositions so outstanding, rather it’s that the artists consider the space their art will be displayed before they even begin the project. Rarely will you ever visit a château that allows visitors to see beyond the fresh coat of paint. But have you ever wondered what’s beyond the tourist path so blatantly directed? What’s beyond those tightly closed and double locked doors? Exposing all its vulnerability, the château has opened its less-than-regal top story now used as storage space for broken statues, fallen pieces of the architecture, peeling wallpaper and splintered floorboards. It was splendid, wonderful, mysterious and incredibly nostalgic, far more so than all of the golden splendor of Versailles.
In the midst of the treasures easily overlooked as rubble were the humble stained glass windows of Sarkis. And may I please please pretty please rummage through this wonderful stuff?
Amusing project called La soupe verte by Gerda Steiner et Jörg Lenzlinger.
The gardens also serve as exposition space for artists working with the natural world. Beautiful images of bees, titled Le peuple des abeilles by Eric Tourneret displayed here in the old farm buildings.
After visiting over a dozen château in the Loire, I know now more than ever that you can not say “I’ve seen one, seen them all.” Each of the château are so unique with not only their own significance in history but also in the various ways contemporaries contemplate how to share them with visitors. While some may transport you back to the era the monuments were first built and last used in their intended purpose, others choose a harmonious display of the past and the future, the old with the new. The château therefore becoming a living, contemporary art space linking us to the future history of these timeless monuments.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m so sorry I’ve missed commenting lately…I have to catch up on your fabulous posts! The Loire is my absolute favorite region, and this is interesting…the last time I was at Chambord I kept thinking how bare it was. Great way to use the space!
I wonder how long Chambord has been doing expositions. It was a nice way to use some of the empty areas around the central staircase. I wish I’d had more time there to visit some of the smaller château that are not as popular to get a sense of how they use their space and attract visitors. The nice thing about the Loire is that you can visit it multiple times and always see lots of new things!
I never really thought about these châteaus having to worry about empty wall space, although it’s something I have seen often in churches, when a lot of the art is taken to be shown in museums. I absolutely agree about the value in mixing old architecture and contemporary artwork, in fact you inspired me to write about some similar exhibits I’ve seen here in Italy!
Send me the link when it’s finished! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. As for the châteaux, I suppose if you have a huge house with not very much art, you have to get creative. Some do well, others really seem to be struggling. It’d be a fun and challenging job to find a solution