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France 3: "Paintings hidden during the Revolution rediscovered by a child - that's the story of the Château de Gizeux".
The Château de Gizeux, located between Tours and Saumur, is less well known, but has nothing to envy its famous Loire châteaux neighbors. Its facades stretch for more than 250 meters, making it the longest château in the Touraine angevine region. It's well worth a visit!
Château! By André Manoukian at Château de Gizeux - ©France télévisions
Géraud and Stéphanie de Laffon inherited Château de Gizeux in 2003. He was a sales engineer in Paris and his wife a tour guide in Chinon. They left everything behind to take on their role as châtelains.
" The château has belonged to our family since 1786. They received Gizeux as a wedding present. A beautiful gift that soon became poisoned... "
The hidden treasures of Gizeux
It wasn't long before the owners had to protect their château from the revolutionaries. Villagers came to help them build a cob wall to hide the magnificent Renaissance murals from potential vandals.
It was in the François 1er gallery of the Château de Gizeux that cob walls were erected to hide the Renaissance murals - © I. Amelot / France 3 Centre-Val de Loire
The formwork was supposed to be temporary, but history decided otherwise. The frescoes remained hidden from view for almost 100 years. It was Géraud de Laffon's great-grandfather who rediscovered the works by chance when he was a child.
" It was when he cut a hole in the cob that he discovered there was something behind it. "
A miracle! The light-protected decorations have been found intact.
Another treasure trove has been found in Gizeux: a gallery of paintings of the greatest royal castles created during the reign of Louis XIV by a master and his pupils in residence at Gizeux.
"My mother-in-law used to learn to ride a bike in this room, where we used to dry onions. When we got the castle back, the walls of this gallery were black."
After 330 years, the 400 m2 of plaster murals have been restored one by one. You can once again admire representations of the châteaux of Chambord, Vincennes, Fontainebleau, Versailles and, of course, Gizeux.
Maintaining a château is expensive!
When you inherit a château that dates back to the Middle Ages and was extended by the family of poet Joachim du Bellay during the Renaissance, the responsibility is immense. And the restoration work is extremely costly.
It took 6 years and 500,000 euros to restore the Châteaux du Roy gallery to its original beauty. "We financed part of the restoration, but without the support of the DRAC (50%) and without the help of participative sponsorship (25%) it would have been impossible. People may think that the help is modest. When they give 15, 30 or 50 euros, you think it's a drop of water, but there's no river without a drop of water," says a grateful Géraud de Laffon. " This patronage gives us incredible energy to keep going," he adds.
Next project? Renovation of the chapel. First its roof, then the restoration of its decor. "We're giving ourselves an 8-year timeframe, which sounds long, but it's not that long compared with the total amount of work involved." Géraud is once again appealing to the generosity of donors. A new sponsorship campaign has been launched for the end of 2023.
The Centre-Val de Loire region boasts 890 privately-owned châteaux, 120 of which are open to the public.
Read the article on www.france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr
By Isabelle Amelot
Published July 27, 2024
