Château d'Ainay-le-Vieil: In the Same Family for Over 500 Years. Tour, Restoration Work

Hello, welcome to the Château d'Enels-Vie. Ennels-Vie is located in the heart of France, truly in the heart of France between Bourges and Montelon. Ned is a castle that is currently being restored. Hervé will tell you about the entire work in a moment. I will tell you more about the history and I will show you the interiors. The characteristic of the Château in its upper courtyard is that we are facing two buildings. A medieval building that was built in the 13th century. A renaissance building built in the 15th century. The renaissance part is completely flamboyant gothic. It dates from Louis X, but we are already strongly in the renaissance, and this is shown to us by the odia that you see behind me on the right and behind me on the left, which are very characteristic of the Italian renaissance. And this large tower that we call the Tower of Honor behind me ends with an imperial dole. These are typical characteristics of the renaissance. N was purchased in 1467 by the Chevenons de Beny and since then, it has never left the family. Everything I'm going to show you inside is a true testament not only to my family history but also to the history of France, as my ancestors have always played an important role in the service of France. Before going inside, I'd like to talk about this façade. This façade shows the feudal hierarchy of the time. On the time in, the Beny coat of arms, above which a man emerges, from which a dog emerges. A symbol of loyalty. Loyalty to whom? To the king. Symbolized here by the angel bearing the arms of France and surmounted by the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. Therefore, the king's loyalty to God. It is truly the symbol of the feudal hierarchy and the ideal of knights. Here, the motto of the Bin Nobilitat Virtus Exaltat Quaeviros. Courage ennobles and exalts men. I now invite you to go inside. We are here in the castle's vestibule. We wonder a little about the function of this room. Because every castle, all castles had a chapel. And due to the shape of this room, we wonder if it wasn't once the castle's chapel. The paintings are 19th century. The structure is gothic. And in the walls during the renaissance, with the same idea of making homes more pleasant, a window was opened in a wall that was rather thick, two meters. So now, I'll take you to the grand salons. Follow me. This is the grand salon. So the architecture and the history of the architecture of the knights is also present in this room. Why? Because behind me we have this beautiful fireplace that dates from the middle ages. The middle ages when Anne of Brittany and Louis X came to visit the lord of the knights. And then we have the renaissance door that leads to the chapel. We'll talk about it later. So let me show you this beautiful fireplace. There are these two registers separated by a frieze with animals. Fantastic and foliage. On the lower register, the arms of France in the middle with the royal crown. The arms of France are surrounded by the court of Saint-Michel which was an order that had been founded by Louis X. The number L for Louis with his crown. The number A for Anne surrounded by the tertiary court of the order of Saint-François. Above the number 1, the golden rose. It was a decoration, a sign of great of great merit. So few people had this rose. The whole is dotted with fleurs de lis and ermine from Brittany. At the top, this part evokes the desire of Louis X to have his rights recognized over Milan and the kingdom of Naples. He had inherited the kingdom of Milan from his grandmother Valentine Visconti. This is represented by the worm that you see which turns around the chimney of the upper register. He had inherited the kingdom of Naples from his uncle the good king René and this is represented by the crosses and beans. In the middle, two dolphins whose snouts are resting on the waves. They come together to form an extraordinary tree on which a project, a parrot, is placed. This is the symbol of the discovery of America. There you have it, a beautiful tribute to NET when we have a king and a queen who come, we build them a chimney. Now, I would like to go back in history a little and introduce you to the great Kolbert who is here in this painting by Lefebvre. He was the prime minister of Louis XIV. In fact, he held all the ministerial positions except for war which was held by Louvois and foreign affairs which were held by his brother Kolbert. Croatia who was a signatory of the peace of Nijmegen which ended the Dutch war. Here, a very beautiful bust of Kolbert sculpted by Kwaszewo who also sculpted his tomb at Saint Austache in Paris. His granddaughter, before I go back in time, his granddaughter, the Duchess of Luxembourg. This portrait was painted in the 19th century by the Duchess of Doudeville and this portrait was inspired by a portrait that had been painted by Madame Nadier in the 18th century. Going back in time, here is a character that all women swooned over as soon as they saw him. That's what we say, but who was a great figure very close to the emperor General Auguste de Kolbert. Unfortunately, he died very young at 32 in Spain at the Battle of Calcabellos. This portrait was painted by Gerard and given by the emperor to Auguste's widow after his death. And so, Gerard represented the symbols of death, death in the prime of life. And this is presented by the chin being slaughtered. In force, we see the horse completely frightened by the death he has just seen coming, the columns breaking and the earth opening up. Here is his son dressed in the uniform of the little Red Lancer, Napoleon Joseph. He was a very complete man because he played an important political role in his region of Normandy. He was a humanist, he wrote operas, and he was a gourmet, and he was the one who created Soul à la Kolbert, among other dishes. Apparently, he wrote other recipes, but this one is well known. You can still enjoy this dish in Louisiana, New Orleans. It's delicious. A whole series of porcelain and Delft and Neverware. Never was a very important ceramics center in the 17th century. We continue, and I'm going to take you now to the chapel. So the chapel, the monumental and renaissance door. So it's a little strange because we are welcomed into the chapel by Venus and Vulcan. So we also ask ourselves the question, before this room became a chapel, did it have another function? We don't know. In this chapel, several elements are important. I wanted to talk to you first about these murals because the upper register represents the Lords of Bisse, those who bought Aenete in 1467. So they play an important role. It's thanks to them that I'm here. And here they are with their wife kneeling in front of the hotel. So we have Charles and his son Claude. Another important element, the stained glass windows that were made by the Squillier. And you can see his beautiful work in Borg Cathedral. The absolutely marvelous coffered ceiling, a jewel of the Saint Val region. Look at the one in the middle. There is the hand of God holding the terrestrial globe which turns on itself in the direction of these palm leaves which are bent by the wind. It is a sign of great independence of mind on the part of the bin to have placed right in the middle of this chapel, of this coffered ceiling, this discovery of Galileo which had not at all pleased the Pope who had condemned it. Galileo had returned to his discovery, let's say, but we say that so do they, he said, but it turns. There you have it, a symbol of independence. Another important detail is the murals, but here I would like to talk to you about They were done by Boucher, Jean Boucher, a 17th century painter and his school. And how did we come to discover these beautiful paintings? Thanks to restoration work on the chapel a few years ago, and the person who restored it often had to remove 10 layers of paint. We can see here, gradually, all the things they managed to discover, and we arrived at this beautiful discovery of these murals. Jean Boucher had been an important painter for Duke Jean Barry, who was the uncle of Charles VI, and for the Condé family in the fortress of Saint-Amand, which is located a few kilometers from Monnaies. So, after this jewel of the central region, I'll take you to the billiards table. This room has retained its fireplace, which dates from the Middle Ages, with the coat of arms of Béal. The furniture in this room was actually built around this beautiful billiard table, which dates from the time of Charles X. It is a neo-gothic decor, of which these chairs, made of cordovan leather, are in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Characteristic of the decor and the neo-gothic style in France. On the walls are paintings by the painter Lalos. Lalos was a painter from the 1920s. You can see many of his paintings at the Musée des Invalides in Paris. He was a specialist in battles, battle scenes. He had an extraordinary way of painting horses and uniforms. If you get close to one of these paintings, you get the impression that this soldier and his horse are literally going to step out of the painting. They depict the feats of arms of General Colbert, the three Colbert brothers, who were very close to the emperor. First, here, Lalos depicted General Auguste and his troops at the Battle of Schengen during the German campaigns. We continue with another of his brothers, Edward, during the 100 days at the Carousel du Loup. The emperor doesn't look very happy. He seems in a rather bad mood and he says to Edward, Edward, I have waited a long time for you. And Edward replies, Sir, we have waited much longer for you. And this phrase, which will be taken up in the press of the time, also because of the fact that he was loyal to his emperor, earned him time in prison during the Restoration. And here is the handsome man you saw in the Grand Salon, Edward with all his Red Lancer cavalry during the Battle of Waterloo. And he has a cast, well, his arm in a sling. He had been wounded the day before during another battle, the Battle of Catre-Bras in Belgium. Another lovely painting shows Alphonse, the third Colbert brother. He is visiting Madame Dupin in Nouwen, not far from here either, with his men. Madame Dupin is holding the hand of a little girl. This little girl is the future Georges Sand. Now, another precious and amusing element in this room is the Cabinet of Curiosities. It's a cabinet that invites us to travel and it's also a tribute to Count Edmond Villefranche, who began as a sea lover who was also in the service of France. So, he started as a sailor, became a ship's captain and brought back from all his sea campaigns and from all the countries he visited many testimonies. So, if we get a little closer, here are, for example, Mandoran buttons which were these men's treaties. We can also see the white porcelain with the Buddhas here which are beautiful objects and the Tibetan prayer rattle which is made of ivory and it was carved, sorry, gradually in the ivory. I'll now take you to the Colbert Salon. This salon is a true testimony to the Colbert family. When we think of Colbert, we immediately think of the great Colbert, the minister Louis XIV. But in fact, in the family since the 17th century, there have been 150 members of the family who have served France as diplomats, politicians and clergy in many capacities. So they were very important for France. Here again, it tells the story of France. So, I will indeed begin with the great Colbert. Colbert was a great minister. He did a great deal for France in trade, finance, science, the world, and art. And this display case is a testament to everything he did. We begin with trade. In this engraving, we see Colbert presenting Reek to the king. Reek was a great engineer. His idea was to connect the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas to allow ships to travel from east to west without having to go through the Gibraltar Channel. The king accepted this project, which sometimes employed 60,000 men. Here, finance. Colbert developed the land registry, which facilitated the tax codification system. Below, a tribute to Colbert through science. He did a lot for the world of science. He brought many great scientists from all over Europe to France. Here, the inauguration of the observatory. You see these beautiful world maps represented in this engraving. Colbert was the superintendent of buildings for the king of France and therefore managed all the work not only at Versailles and the gardens of Versailles, but also at the Louvre, and many other things. He was in contact with all the great artists of the time, and he himself was a great master. He had his artists work a lot at the Château de Sao, which belonged to him. You see him here in this beautiful engraving from Nantois, along with his son, Colbert Signolet. Colbert had several children. Three of his sons died in the war at the head of their regiment. Colbert Signolet survived him and was a great minister of the navy. Here on this wall, a tribute to the generous Colbert, whom you saw in the billiard room in the paintings, here they are again. So all three of them were very loyal to the emperor. In the center, General Auguste, to his left, his brother Edward, and to his right, Alphonse. So their loyalty to the emperor. We have represented it here through this painting where we see Napoleon as first consul. This small painting below represents Edward. We saw it in the painting in the Louvre carousel. Well, here he is, in prison, due to his loyalty to the emperor and this famous phrase he had uttered. The son of General Auguste Napoleon Joseph, whom we discovered in the uniform of a little red lancer, here he is with his wife. They had a son Edward, who was also a great general at the head of the hussars of his hussar regiment. Here, he married, he was my great-grandfather, my great-great-grandfather, and he married this very beautiful woman here, born Marie de Bourghem. I'll now take you to the left of the fireplace to introduce you to other members of the family. This pretty young girl you see, this little girl holding the rose, is Jeanne de Bigny. She was the last of the Bignys. She married Edmond Villefranche, whose cabinet you saw in tribute to her. They had a daughter, Marie de Villefranche. This woman managed things remarkably well. We even have notes that she had gathered in a notebook. So, a precious item, and she was also an artist. She was a photographer. We already had an exhibition of these photos here. She married my great-grandfather Colbert, Auguste de Colbert, the son of Edouard de Colbert, whom you saw at the head of his hussar regiment. There, he was the Pope's chamberlain, a magistrate, and he was for many years. Thanks to him, Colbert's memorabilia came into the family. Edmond Villefranche was the great-grandson of the Duchess of Terzal, the governess of the children of France, the children of Louis X and Marie Antoinette. Thanks to him, some gifts that Marie Antoinette and her daughter had given to the Duchess of Terzal and her daughter came into the family. These are precious testimonies that you can see in another room of the château. Auguste Colbert and Marie de Villefranche had a daughter, Jeanne, who married Gerardellini. They are my grandparents. They opened it to the public in 1954 and created one of the first tourist routes in France, the Jacques Routes, with other friends, two other friends who owned the Château de Mayenne and the Château de Coulonne next to the Nels. And here I am, here with my mother. We took over the castle with Hervé, my husband, who will tell you about all the work we are currently doing in net. And we are happy to be able to share all this with you, what my grandparents, my uncles and aunts, my mother are doing, while we want to continue it, continue to share this heritage that is important for us and for France. Well, hello everyone. Here we are again in the inner courtyard of the Château de Nelvie. So here we will be able to see the progress of all the work that we are doing and that we will do. So here we are doing this part, which is the part where it is just ramparts with two medieval towers. This is this year's part. And in fact, it is part of a program where we are over six years, we are now in the fifth year. And when we decided to take over the castle, the fact that the renovation, the restoration of the castle was very important, was even essential. So, we had to immediately decide on a renovation program. So, a huge renovation program for the castle, and so we divided the castle into six parts, and like a cheese, we cut the castle into six and decided to do the work in six years. So, for example, the first year was the left part of the main building. The second year was the right part. In the third year, we move on to the feudal main building. So, the same thing, left part, this year, right part. And then, well, this year, the penultimate year of the work, we're on this part of the ramparts, and next year, we'll finish in style by restoring the So, the three towers and the sleeping bridge. And then the entire castle will have been restored. Of course, we decided to do these complete renovations of the castle. So it was from the cellars to the roof, it was inside and outside, and it was inside the courtyard as well as outside, uh, on the park side. So a bit of a two-sided. Follow me, I'm going to show you the rooms that we have restored, rather for a commercial aspect. Here, I'm going to show you the reception room that is rented for weddings. The entrance is called the archer's room, which is the former stables of the castle. So there you go. So there, we redid all the lighting, uh, the windows, the doors, and especially the parquet flooring. So there, we have a chain parquet flooring over the 220 square meters of the reception room. So there you go, that's a room that is now brand new for our next events. I'm also going to show you the celery. The same that we have restored and which is also used for our events when we receive schools, children, etc. And as you can see, we've had it redone, in fact, we've changed all the windows in the entire castle and the panes. So here too, we have small paned windows again in an 18th century style. Uh, sometimes we even say it's almost a bit like an orangery. Now when you're on the facade, the three large doors, now that they're small paned, give it a more cheerful, warmer feel, and it's more like an orangery. And the third room has been completely fitted out for caterers. And then, and then, well, we're going to enjoy the work. It's always fun to discover the work. So, as there are scaffoldings that are easily accessible from the ramparts, I can take you into the scaffolding and we'll see a bit of the work in progress. And especially there, it's a lot of plastering work since this medieval park has remained in its original state, so to speak. So there are obviously very few windows, uh, and very few carved stones. So it's mainly a huge amount of plastering work in just the roof of the medieval towers in flat tiles. There, you can already enjoy the superb view we have of the interior courtyard and we're going to go to the part that is being worked on right now where we're going to see a There, we are between the two medieval towers which are being restored. So as I was telling you earlier, this is the real plastering work. So there, they removed the old plaster, they pricked and we are preparing everything to do the new plastering. In the new color of the castle which is this beige, a little taupe. And we are also working, I don't know if we can see it there obviously on the flat tile roofs and there they are discovering the restoration of the framework or the replacement of the framework. We'll see, that will be the surprise. And flat tile roofing like the flat tiles that are over there from the first medieval tower that was restored four years ago. That was the first phase. New stage, here we are on the ramparts already restored. That's what was done this year. So there, we can already admire the superb slate roofing work. Slate that comes from Spain. And we can perhaps enjoy it because there, we have a very pretty view of the water. Water is very important at the Chateau Don LVV. So there, we have a view of the moats, uh, but we see canals that actually link the canals, the moats since there's the renaissance water garden that is actually associated with the water system of the moats which is medieval. So we have a whole system of vast communicating between the canals, the moats, between the water features, marshes that regulate all the water. So the water here is decorative because of the renaissance water gardens, it is defensive because of the moats, and it becomes useful because all the excess water from the castle feeds the mill and the village wash house. So here, we are in a medieval tower that is completely in its original state. Today, we have a great opportunity to see that we are really working in depth to renovate the castle. So the roofers removed all the flat tiles. Now, the framework is exposed. It will be restored, replaced before putting the tiles back on to have a brand new tower, but still in its original state with the original loopholes and the original ammunition magazines. This tower is, I believe, the only tower in the castle that has not been modified since the 12th century. So here, still on the ramparts, we can take advantage of talking about the roofs because many people are surprised that we mix slate and flat tiles. And in fact, it's really to highlight the difference in architecture, the dual architecture of the castle. So everything that's made of flat tiles is medieval roofs, which haven't been modified. And everything that's made of slate is renaissance roofs and 19th-century roofs, since here, there are three eras. Construction of the fortress in the medieval period, construction of the main building in the renaissance, and major architectural modifications in the 19th century. So, as you can see, the work isn't finished yet, it's well advanced, but it's not finished yet. So we still have a big project ahead of us. That's why this is a great opportunity for you to come to the old castle to visit us and see a little bit of the progress of the work, and in 2026, see a castle, a brand new, completely restored fortified castle that will be set to last for centuries and centuries with all its splendor. We are here in the king's chamber. It's called that because, as I told you, King Louis X stayed in ice. I wanted to show you an important item, the deed of purchase of ice. Born was therefore purchased by my ancestors, the Chevenons de Bé in 1467, and this deed of purchase was made on vellum. This piece is a tribute to the different families, to my family, but also to the different families who lived and were born there and who were this link with the history of France through all these different testimonies brought by different alliances. I'm going to tell you about it, and we'll start with the Beniz display case. Lesben, therefore Charles Cheven de Bichette Enta, royal stables of Louis X and founder and creator of the post office. His son Claude built the Renaissance Lodge. He was governor of the Bastille. His grandson Gilbert created the chapel and the water gardens of the birth. So they were very important at the Valois court. One of the important objects in this display case is this terrier. It tells the stories of the lands of the born between 1534 and 1549. So it actually links all the acts of purchase, the exchanges, the trials, everything that makes up the history of a place, at least of the land of this place. The last of the Beniz married Edmond Villefranche, the ship captain I had already told you about. And here, thanks to this alliance, are the magnificent memories we have of Marie Antoinette. Magnificent, more than magnificent, moving memory we have of Marie Antoinette. When the revolution broke out, Marie Antoinette entrusted her children to Malamé de Terzel. She was therefore the great grandmother of Edmond Villefranche. She said to Madame de Terzel as she welcomed her, I entrust to virtue what I had entrusted to friendship, my most precious possession, my children. Madame de Terzel has been there since the revolution broke out. She was a guardian. Uh, she participated in the Averen escape and she was the only person outside the royal family present during the Averen escape. As a sign of recognition and gratitude, the queen presented her with this medallion with this fossilized spider. It is the only piece of jewelry that Marie Antoinette wore to the temple. The loyalty of the Terzel family continued to the royal family since Madame de Terzel's daughter, Pauline, became Madame Royal's lady-in-waiting. And as a sign of gratitude, Madame Royal presented her with this music box, this gold lyre that plays, Good, Mr. de Molay. I'm not going to start singing now. Quote. Another alliance, that of my great-grandmother with Auguste Colbert, brought us precious memories of the Colbert family, of the great Colbert first of all, so minister of Louis X, you see him here dressed like a Roman emperor and all these leaves around represent his greatness. Two miniatures of Petito are remarkable here. One represents Louis XIV and the other Colbert. Here, a key to a box with the Colbert coat of arms and semi-precious stones. We go back through the generations and we come to General Colbert. Here, we will talk about Auguste, very close to the emperor. First of all, the emperor was very amused by General Auguste's resemblance, in addition to his name, which was exactly the same as Emperor Auguste. So, he gave him this cameo representing Emperor Auguste. They were so close that the emperor was godfather to Auguste's son, Napoleon Joseph. As a christening gift, he offered this pretty box here and these two miniatures of Isabel, Josephine, and Marie Louise. And in this display case, a tribute to General Auguste and General Edward de Colbert with weapons and decorations. General Auguste's chapska and General Edward's old red chainmail, which is stained with blood since he had been wounded at the Battle of Catrebras, a campaign in Belgium. These two pairs of pistols have an important history. They are linked to the Egyptian campaign. The first, the one on top, belonged to General Auguste. He was Murat's aide-de-camp during the Battle of Saint-Jean-d'Acre. A Turkish soldier on Murat. Auguste killed him but was wounded himself. Fell from his horse and lost his pair of pistols. The next day, he received a new pair of pistols with the following note. Coin, here is a pair of pistols to replace the one you lost. I cannot offer it to anyone who will make better use of it, signed Bonaparte. Quote. The other pistol belonged to Edward. He was sent on a mission to Murad Bey, the leader of the Mamluks. At the end of their meeting, Murad Bey takes off his belt, hands the pair of pistols to Edward, saying, here is a pair of pistols. I can't offer anything other than weapons to a French soldier. Besides, the French didn't leave me anything else. I am happy to share this heritage with you as did my grandparents, my uncles and aunts, my mother before me, before us. I also invite you to come to Inku and do other things because to bring this place to life, we had many ideas that we put into practice since we created cottages, guest rooms, we have beautiful reception rooms and then a restaurant. And to enhance your stay, I invite you to discover our gardens. We have three different periods in these gardens. Renaissance period with the creation of the Renaissance water garden, the 19th with a park, the creation of a landscape park and chartreuse which are very beautiful old structures, open skies in which we recreated the history of gardens in France and then contemporary gardens. So I invite you to come back to Inku and we'll be happy to welcome you and I say see you very soon.