The Extravagant Castles Built By Medieval Kings | Chateaux of France | Real Royalty

this channel is part of the history hit Network stick around to find out more [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] looks like a fortress from a tale of knights of old on its Hilltop overlooking the town it's formidable tall towers rise above the Loire and its crenellated ramparts hold within them all the history of the last Millennium with a hundred years of War and Peace [Music] it was initially owned by the counts of anju and then the plantagenets before becoming a royal castle at the end of the 14th century Eleanor vakitem Richard the lionheart Phillip or Goose San Luis yoland of Aragon and King Renee all lived here today this outsized stone-built Chateau of Dreams is now at the heart of a social economic and tourism-related strategy and is the town's Flagship Monument a center for communal pride and a place that brings people together The Chateau of the Loire were built to be seen from the water but from high up one can understand their strategic location from which one can also survey the river the original Chateau was a dungeon some decades later a moat was constructed around it to better defend the base of the tower then in the early 13th century during the Regency of Blanche of Castille the Tower with the moat was then surrounded by an outer wall linked by large circular Towers one in each Corner which are very different to the towers built by Louis the first of Andrew with cut off corners and larger Stones so the three major stages in the construction of the Chateau were the main tower at the end of the 11th century the classic fortified castle at the start of the 12th century and in the second half of the 14th century The Chateau for pleasure built by the king's brother the Duke of Arjuna yeah we can enter yes yes that's where you go down my name is Jacqueline and I've been the head curator of the Museum of the Chateau of Summer since 1990. so for 24 years now the Chateau of Samir has been under restoration since 1997 which has been quite a while now and the work is going to continue for another decade or so one of the highlights of the work here is this beautiful restoration that finished just last year of the great staircase this staircase is the only one of its kind remaining it dates from the end of the 14th century we know there was one in the palis the Louvre of Charles V there was this one in somu and one in the Pali ducal in bourge which belonged to Jean DeBerry the brother of Charles V and Louis the first of aju the senior of the Chateau of somu history hit is a streaming platform that is just for history fans with fantastic documentaries covering fascinating figures and moments in history from all over the world with hundreds of hours of documentaries we know would have something for you why not explore the succession crisis of 1066 or the mystery of the prince is in the tower we're committed to Bringing history fans award-winning documentaries and podcasts as you cannot find anywhere else sign up now for a 14 day free trial and a real royalty fans get 50 off their first three months just be sure to use code real royalty at checkout so between the restoration projects that were undertaken at the very start of the 20th century and those done on the southern wing and the Western Tower at the end of the 20th century things evolved you can see it in how the windows close and in the quality of the tufur stone used we were very lucky because behind the few modifications that were carried out in the 19th century we found the 14th century architecture which was intact The Chateau has been returned to its former glory thanks to the experience and skill of the stonemasons during this enormous restoration project just beside the gate to the outer wall is the craft skilled house a beautiful 15th and 16th Century Construction here happy young restoration apprentices skillfully apply their chisels Hammers and scrapers talented guildsman Christoph zilliox is the manager of the restoration project he pays his young students a visit there's a lot of carving for not much result when I got here the shadow was the first thing I saw we arrived by car there were three or four of us with our bags and our well our little tool bags and the first thing we saw when we arrived in Sawmill was the Chateau I arrived on the project in 1979. but I never imagined that 25 years later one of the most beautiful and most important projects in my career would be the shuttle of Sonia right here besides I'm delighted to have done it and I'm hoping to continue because the Chateau is far from finished there's a lot more work still to be done it's a fascinating subject and a fascinating Monument it's also about completing the circle for me in a way this Chateau is very precious to me that's how it is how much time did they give you in total 27 hours 24 hours of stone cutting 27 Hours 27 hours including the plans and the panels uh the plans aren't usually included I'm 21 years old and I'm an apprentice Stone Mason with the guild because I'm fascinated by history I decided to work with stone and that's what I hope to do in future be a guildsman and work on historical monuments bringing history back to life or other big monuments like the 13 orange for now the past two years went very well and we're doing our mock exams at the moment we'll see we'll see what happens as Julius Caesar used to say [Music] oh according to the tradition of this Guild which brings together some of the best Craftsmen and women in the country the apprentices will soon head off to travel around France to work to share some of their knowledge from Samuel and the techniques learned from this Chateau a jewel in the crown of French medieval architecture looking down over the town where houses built in the Middle Ages sit side by side with Renaissance constructions The Chateau of Samir Bears witness to the love of the kings of France for the Loire Valley it is the last example of a Royal Palace constructed by the valuar dynasty Samuel is a veritable source of curiosity and inspiration that helps bring out people's vocations when he was a child Jimmy spent his time digging in the sandbanks on the Loire around the foot of the Chateau he'd often find fossils fragments of objects or even whole objects he was inspired by his findings and became interested in archeology bringing his treasures to the curator to discover their Origins and on the left in the main hole there are kestrels nesting I raised them at home semi-liberty and then they returned naturally to the Chateau right now they are nesting so the pair is either out flying or inside that little hole I'm trying to call them out but they're not there yeah we'll do a good thing we'll take the wheelbarrow which was invented by the Russians for the past few years Jimmy has been employed as the chateau's maintenance man clones here we are on the flower garden of the Chateau of swimia which is going to be moved because there will soon be work being done on the chateau's walls and we need the land here so we can dig it up and store it in another Garden before returning to its place afterwards you can't move a chateau but you can always move a garden this is Viola odorato or sweet violet Gillette the unusual thing about violence is that it's not the flowers that smell but the leaves this wild garlic was used as far back as 6500 BC in primitive or Neolithic food it smells of garlic and grows near the surface which is a perennial that is used for nosebleeds since ancient times the Chinese in particular have used the flowers to make the first incense sticks in temples and it all grows in anju thanks to its mild climate Pascal works with Jimmy let's go up to my floor between them Jimmy and Pascal ensure the maintenance and smooth running of this huge and complex estate of The Dukes of anju are you there Jimmy I don't know where he is oh he hasn't done anything in here I can tell here we are these are closed we have to do the glass doors every day yeah one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen there is 17. especially as we've only got from 6 to 10 A.M we start at six a.m in High season so from 6 a.m to 10 a.m We have four hours to do it we really need to work very fast we're always full of energy going up and downstairs it's very physical was it yesterday afternoon that we did it I don't think so no we didn't have the time hold on there's a look that's a lady's glove a rinse our rinse terrains terrains [Music] you haven't got a ladies glove have you Jimmy in with your sings they're in the water a man's one that one I don't remember yes that's a man's one the men only have one glove and so do the ladies unless you're washing one Jimmy yeah I'm washing one look how he puts it that's not properly done yeah look at that it's clean you have to stretch it out that's what I do hold on the summer season is drawing near the work has begun to construct the rows of seating for the summer performances [Music] the construction of the seating is a springtime ritual that requires rigor and conviviality Remy not working much are you huh aren't you working [Music] the well house it was constructed after the collapse of the western facade in the 17th century the 33 meter deep well provided the water for the Chateau part of its ancient mechanism dates back to the Middle Ages I'm painting the world's winching mechanism with wood preserver which we do once a year to stop insects or other pests from attacking it is it's a mixture of linseed oil turpentine and a drying agent that is a homemade recipe to protect it it makes the whole Chateau Courtyard smell lovely it smells of pine smells of Summer of nature sometimes it smells of the Woods and upstairs the cabinet makers are looking after the furniture we're repairing a piece of furniture part of which dates from the 16th century which is a very interesting piece it's decorated with the design of folded parchment which dates back to the 16th century it's been slightly modified but most of it's from the 16th century and it was damaged on the top Edge we're now loosening it so that we can put back the cross piece along the top Edge this cross piece will be put back together using adjusting screws that were added in the 19th century wax stains a few little vices but that's for another job down below and wood chisels it wasn't naturally stuck if we put it back in there with the wax when we tighten it it will fall on the end of the piece there I mean are you doing I'll let you do the other one then we'll put in some hard wax on the uh their wax is mixed with pigments beeswax and carnauba to fill in any little faults that are visible and to give more solidity to the piece yeah that's it that looks like the little shine there was before in the upper part sometimes the objects from the Museum's collection are taken off to be restored in the workshops of nearby Artisans they are always returned to the Chateau and their rightful position in the museum this is a Louis XV secretary that comes from Paris and is beautifully made the upper part has a beautiful Square in it with Rosewood decoration in butterfly wings on the front and sections of tinted wood tinted Greenwood often Holly or box with what we call Greek angles right it's a secretary from the 1760s you can see here what I was saying here's the flap which works now and rests properly on its support that was one of the mechanical problems with this piece so are you pleased with it the hinges were badly made in the 18th century I'm not kidding it wasn't Square it happens really but it does happen with certain pieces and it was the case with this secretea we've got two little screws here 18th century screws which the supports rested and they weren't at the right height that's how we knew that the mechanism wasn't properly done back in the 18th century Estelle the assistant curator has decorated the room in a style that evokes the 18th century and which illustrates the presence of pieces of decorative art inside a chateau from this period the exhibition pays homage to the creation of this Museum in the Chateau a hundred years ago and allows Estelle to examine how a museum should function how do you enable the spirit of a medieval Chateau to sit alongside such extraordinarily diverse works of art my name is and I'm the assistant curator at the Museum of the Chateau of somu and as such in addition to many other varied responsibilities I'm in charge of the collection of 30 000 objects that make up the Museum's collections my job is to study inventory and resemble these 30 000 objects according to the regulations surrounding museums in France and to show them through what we are doing here in the north wing of the Chateau foreign The Collection is shown online so that people from around the world can see it as a result we regularly receive requests for study and applications from researchers around the world receiving and working with researchers is very important to us because it enriches their studies and in return their work helps us to find out more about the objects we have here and to better manage our collections collection I'm not going to touch it because I can see it's crooked I have to tell it still it looks crooked do you like him yes he's a handsome man A very handsome man in the early 20th century the town of Samuel bought the Chateau from the state to house the municipal Museum on the first floor of the north Wing the former Apartments of The Dukes of Anjou are now home to a magnificent collection of decorative art from the Middle Ages to the 19th century Furniture tapestries and a collection of ceramics that is among the best in Europe in this display case we have chosen to show Ceramics from Europe and Asia [Music] to contrast the different Creations that have had an influence on one another um everything that came from China or India was very successful in Europe so much so that China had a huge influence on decorative Arts one of the key elements in Oriental decorative Arts was porcelain which the Europeans were unable to imitate until the 18th century so these pieces were thus imported at Great expense these were rare and expensive Productions that arrived very slowly so gradually their centers for ceramic production took inspiration from them to compete with Chinese porcelain they were unable to reproduce the material so they copied the decoration or if they didn't copy it they took a lot of inspiration from it and applied it to completely European shapes this is our textile storeroom this is where we keep liturgical ornaments as well as lots of fabric pieces the shooter each crate is numbered and these numbers correspond to our digital inventory so we can very easily and quickly locate any objects [Music] we're going to take a look in a crate at the kinds of liturgical ornaments we keep here the objects are stored in tissue paper we have scrunched the paper up into balls to protect the artworks from any impact and prevent the Fabrics from moving as you know the Fabrics are extremely fragile so we'll unwrap them and have a look at what's inside so we said here we are in one of the out buildings which is where the town hall very kindly set up our sewing Workshop everyone is working for the show which this year is called the horsemen of time and is the song eluniere show this year we have 21 volunteers who are doing the sewing along with three interns who are very skilled and very professional and have come to help us we are managed by two seamstresses Claire and brendy who are handling the patina of the Fabrics in particular ly these are suits of armor that have been made by the seamstresses in the workshops they're made from imitation leather and aligned and quilted then I come along with my paint to add a patina and give a feel of aged leather I'm a costume maker I did my training in Paris at the lease I have a diploma in costume design and a guild qualification as an artisan costume maker I do the patellas on the armor on the chainmail The Peasants costumes and also the dying of certain costumes hey what up can you separate the pieces then I can give them to you bit by bit and you Clara do you want something to do look I can give you a bodice I'm Claire Bose I've been a costume maker for two years now I work on live performances and theater exactly but this is the first time I've worked on a song a Lumiere show it's a historical retrospective covering different periods in history and the idea is that the costumes illustrate each era through their shape so that visually it's as striking as possible and the costumes have to set the period we're in down both sides and stops right there when you live and you've got a chateau like this you have to bring it to life you have to participate it's a part of all of us it's a part of our lives so I think it's very interesting to bring it to life and it's so satisfying when the show starts and we see our costumes on stage it's magnificent it's the best reward you could have moreover most of the seamstresses are also extras in the show so it's double the satisfaction because not only do we make the costumes but we get to wear them too and that's wonderful it's Unique for the past two years the Chateau of Samir has been the setting for a Lumiere show that has delighted over 25 000 people tonight it's the final rehearsal for the horsemen of time show the production designer Bruno celier is adding the finishing touches giving his final recommendations to the actors and the horses 150 voluntary actors are participating in this amazing Voyage Through the centuries [Music] you have to aim for him there because otherwise you go off we don't know what you're doing follow him wait wait wait before you kill him give him time to get up and bang [Music] in the background our young seamstresses worked late into the night costumes for the peasants revolutionaries and soldiers everything has to be ready for the first night the soldiers in chainmail will soon be on stage the knights will look very elegant oh my goodness what's going on [Music] [Music] together in the middle there must be any gaps keep on going okay you're doing great you're doing great [Music] thank you thank you go home get some sleep we'll see you at 8pm shop on Monday for our first night of Madness at dawn The Chateau wakes up Jimmy checks over the Chateau in every nook and cranny year round he inspects closed up areas storerooms and attics and takes care of the collections this is a huge and delicate task considered as preventive conservation inspecting Towers hidden rooms and secret places sometimes reveals some surprises yeah I'm in the cell Jolly two pigeons go in here they were on the uh on the wall walk when I went out to look there were two pigeons behind the door and they came in so uh I'm Gonna Leave the windows open so they can get out but we'll have to close them and check they got out I'll check again at two o'clock a sheet of paper on the table foreign right now I'm checking the temperature and humidity in each room and in each display case twice a day it's to check that the iron isn't reacting with the humidity and the temperature is constant conserve the contents correctly so we have to make sure our baby's not got a fever and it's not too damp foreign in 1808 Napoleon the first decided to turn the Chateau into a state prison which saved it from falling into ruins aren't really open to the Blick because the restoration isn't finished we're in the South wing of the Chateau all these holes you can see in the wall a little higher up are where the joists at joists that were put up at the start of the 19th century when the Chateau was turned into a prison because this area which is eight meters high was split into two to create two levels of accommodation well you can still see where the windows were in each cellular there's one missing there in the middle and the one farthest to the right has disappeared because we reopened the large medieval window if you look carefully at the floor you can see the traces of these different occupations for each cell there was a threshold and on either side the dividing wall that separated the three cells now we're going to go up to the second floor where there's a similar room we'll take the famous double staircase it's a staircase where the stones have been carved on both sides and each side leads to a different place was a residential room with a lovely fireplace that is currently boxed in while we wait for the restoration work to be completed most of the woodwork is original we have done Dental chronological or tree ring analysis which revealed that the trees were felled in 1387. the wood used is oakheartwood as in the East Wing hello this room has a fine aspect as does the whole Southern wing and you can imagine that people got together here in the daytime to enjoy the light and heat now we're going to take what we call the public staircase or the staircase the Duke used with his Entourage to reach the highest part of the Chateau the Belvedere which is a magical place [Music] [Music] for centuries the Loire was the busiest waterway in France transporting merchandise from the Atlantic and the rest of Europe barges and other flat bottom craft perfectly adapted to the changing riverbed traveled the Waterway slipping between the sandbanks since the end of the 20th century passionate River Travelers have been rediscovering this Heritage they restore old vessels and sometimes build new ones in Maritime workshops modern flat-bottomed barges for tourists are made here [Music] along with the max penier Boatyard our starting point was a traditional flat bottomed barge upon which we placed this structure based on Finnish houses made from solid wood we found a mooring on the kedu marony which is an ancient Mooring that dates back to the 19th century when the Loire was at its busiest in the early 19th century so we'll be opposite the shadow in this exceptional sight on offar Island facing the shadow which is a marvelous place we'll go down the Confluence passing in front of the shuttle to Moor up opposite the Chateau de somu [Music] thank you foreign is the last great Wild River in Europe [Music] thousands our Valley has been the UNESCO world heritage list as a cultural landscape The Chateau of Samir built at the Confluence of the Loire in the twi between anju and Toren sits in these superb surroundings [Music] thank you [Music] it was a lovely trip fine cruise and now the boat is moored up opposite the Chateau we've been thinking about this for a few months and it's great because finally we've got what we wanted yeah it was a lovely day everybody's on there are you happy yes very now it's time for some refreshments What's halfway open from April to November the Chateau de soumir welcomes an average of 12 000 visitors every month a team of 10 permanent staff members is boosted each Summer by the arrival of seasonal workers who are inspired by the idea of working with a heritage site and who can speak other languages can I see your tickets please [Music] my name is mayang and I'm from Indonesia I'm in my third year of a bachelor's in Heritage and I'm doing the double diploma program I've done most of my studies in Indonesia and I'm finishing my final year here in France I chose Heritage because I'm interested in history and tourism promotion there are a lot of historical buildings in Indonesia but unfortunately they are badly managed this internship is part of my studies and it's interesting because I'm learning a lot it's a little play about a night who's looking for a horse they they do some microbiatic things with a horse not much but it's quite interesting it's I have lots of different jobs I do security for example okay and in the beginning I worked on the welcome desk and I don't know maybe I'll do guided tours for the next bit the project comes from the town hall and the communication department is such an exceptional place so we thought it was the moment to share it and get the local children involved so rather than simply focusing on a classic Chateau visit that could be boring we decided to create a play Space where children could have fun and parents too to introduce them to Medieval games and show them that people were able to have fun in the past even without the new technologies we have today now in addition to the chivalry school and introducing the children to games we have a course they can do with three or four games that we select from those in the camp including archery and after they've done the games after the half hour is up they get a certificate of chivalry showing that they are skilled in games from the olden days and they get to take it home and are generally very happy with that [Music] there are short shows all afternoon demonstrations on Horseback and little shows allow the families to rest a moment in this unique historical place and to immerse themselves in the adventure of great equestrian tournaments foreign [Music] [Laughter] [Music] I dreamed of being a knight yeah so getting this job was a goal of mine because it's the only way you can earn a living with a horse and a sword these days so there you go I'm one of the very rare nights 21st century [Music] [Applause] oh yeah [Music] [Applause] Samuel is a town that is intrinsically linked to the French equestrian scene home to the French national riding school and its famous instructors the equi of the Cadron Noir it goes without saying that the museum has a fabulous collection dedicated to equestrian equipment and the history of horseback riding [Applause] takes us to the exhibition rooms containing objects from Antiquity to the 20th century in this room there are some fine pieces which are just a selection because the Chateau museum is being renovated and not all the objects are here on display however you can see some of the best pieces from the 16th to the 19th century this is a French saddle in suede while in the other displays the Saddles are velvet the stirrups in the French style the lamp and the famous tunic of the Cadron style boots the crop for the jumpers and here two jumpers two sculptures representing three of the jumps practiced by the equinox the third figure represents the cabriole thank you [Music] foreign [Music] out of the light in the rooms upstairs the other Saddles and equestrian equipment await the reopening of the exhibition rooms there are several thousand objects dedicated to horses there is a whole series of saddles and not just French ones but Saddles from three parts of America South America Central America and North America there are Saddles from Africa and different Asian countries so our Saddles are considered by the Specialists as historic Saddles this is a saddle from Iran or Afghanistan here there is engraved Ivory and all this part which is painted in many different colors so quite a sophisticated decoration I'll show you what Chinese saddle hello there was a time when we thought it was Tibetan then one day we received a delegation from the Chinese Embassy who taught us a lesson and told us it wasn't Tibetan but Chinese behind you is a Californian saddle it's superb with fantastic embossed leather work it's complete and it's one of my favorites there are birds engraved in the leather on the saddlebags it's really beautiful it's true one can really enjoy objects like this not just paintings or sculptures here is the famous plaque one million one hundred and forty thousand horses from the French army died during the first world war that figure is absolutely staggering and it only covers horses in the French army so you can imagine the total number of horses that perished foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] guano from Jack doors pigeons every kind of bird foreign [Music] foreign [Music] and when the night finally arrives for the summer spectacle on the Terrace the whole of Samir is lit up by the show it's a fantastic idea wow look at the view ER is a chateau and the Shadows of the Loire are the flagships of our heritage both in France and abroad so having the chance to create a show in one of these flagships it's extremely inspiring just for that second element was so mure because it's a world heritage site and a site of intangible world heritage because two years ago the French art of equestarianism was added to the UNESCO list of intangible world heritage sites with the cadronoir in Samuel and having the opportunity to put that equestrian art on the stage was very motivating and the third element that led me to Samuel was the volunteers the people from shomio and the surrounding region who give up their free time to perform to act and promote their town and their region I found that very touching very moving so you have the beautiful Stones motivated people and intangible Heritage and oral and Technical tradition all that together led me to samyo thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you at philandri Stone and vegetation live side by side in Perfect Harmony The Fabulous coherence of these French style Gardens is down to the will of one man who inherited this Family Estate his Chateau is prized by some 350 000 visitors each year and also by artists and photographers researchers and Sportsmen and women who are all welcomed by this warm and friendly host Henri carvelo is a passionate man a manager botanist ecologist and historian of his home [Music] laundry a medieval castle that had fallen into ruins was the dungeon on the foundations of that middle-aged Chateau he built the beautiful Renaissance Chateau that is highly characteristic of the second Renaissance Pavilions the one normally finds on the ends of the wings of a chateau from the first Renaissance have been replaced here by these Square Pavilions on the ends of each Wing either side of the court of honor and topped with a pyramidal room there's also a greater Simplicity in the layout of the doors windows and roof Windows there's a greater geometry but one still finds Renaissance roof windows that are very decorative with Scrolls and ornate columns [Music] thank you laundry remained in the Liberton family until the middle of the 18th century then in 1754 it was bought by Mr de castellan who was from an illustrious family from the provincial nobility he constructed out buildings the beautiful Courtyard behind me and the concierge opposite and a purely Louis XV style that is more geometric with greater symmetry in the architecture and greater simplicity visitors to vilondri come first and foremost to walk in the gardens they only enter the Chateau after having been Charmed by the magic of the surroundings the master of this Sublime transformation of nature is a quiet man who never seems overwhelmed by the task in hand to maintain the Chateau oversee the gardens and manage a staff of 50. this ease stems from his determination to continue the mission started by his ancestors in the 19th century the owner of the Chateau de villandry created an english-style park around the Chateau with sweeping Lawns glass houses and small trees it was a more natural garden than the very formal construction Garden you see today it was my great grandparents who in 1906 decided to reintroduce a Renaissance style order around the Chateau de villandry is they drew on General literature about gardening all plans of the Chateau and their own archaeological research and digs in order to locate the terracing system you see here to precisely Define the decorative kitchen Garden we know that during the Renaissance the owner of the Chateau like to follow the progress through his window of new vegetables such as tomatoes from America or eggplant from India so this Garden close by The Chateau had a Botanical vocation but it was also meant to be decorative that's why you find flowers mixed in with the produce and this whole geometry formed by box Hedges an idea that also came from Italy during the Renaissance head gardeners I've been head Gardener here at villandry for the past six years at 6 a.m Lauren divides up the work according to a detailed plan which takes into account the skills of each person and the discretion required to carry out their work during opening hours mowing because we didn't do it last week then we'll do it next Monday can you continue tying up the vine the team is composed of eight permanent gardeners with some occasional helpers and interns this daily organization means the team can achieve some amazing tasks 180 000 plants are planted and replaced each year in order to ensure the color in the beds and Vary the designs that symbolize the emotions of our existence or the forces from the cosmos through the seasons the sun Garden the ornaments Garden The Garden of Love the simple garden the kitchen Garden the maze the water mirror The Cloisters garden and lastly The Garden of the crosses [Music] [Laughter] [Music] before reaching their glorious multi-colored summer stage the kitchen Gardens start out slowly under glass from early spring the decorative vegetables and flowers are painstakingly potted and are given the utmost care and attention these are lengthy humble tasks that require patience and precision here we're in the production greenhouses throughout the spring from February to June we produce 80 000 flour and vegetable plants mainly vegetables for the kitchen garden and summer cultivation here we're preparing some summer flowers that will be planted out in early May when there's no more risk of Frost [Music] in March when the threat of frost is passed everyone gets busy transporting and loading thousands of salad plants ordered from local market gardeners because and who'd have thought it before appearing on our plates salad plants were first and foremost ornamental plants their rounded shapes and vibrant green Hues bring a splash of color to the garden we received our salads this morning they're ready to go and we're grown by a Market Garden they make up the majority of our spring cultivation in the kitchen Garden we'll have between 23 and 24 000 salads this year with eight different varieties we like to play with the different colors and shapes there's the COS lettuce that gives height Batavia Oak Leaf and the red dollar Rosa freeze these salads will be planted with Organic cabbages foreign the Earth has been tilled and then once it's been loosened we marked out the exact spots where the salads are to be planted after Distributing them around the garden we just need to plant them with our fingers five people can plant 23 000 salads and that takes us a week we can plant between three and five thousand salads a day depending on the weather foreign that one's come out a little yeah is that one there and the one next to it well this one that one towards you that's it Halloween she's doing a five-week internship in the gardens with us um it's a way of really getting to understand the business five weeks is long enough to become a part of the team to see how we work and to get your hands dirty because it's not just about watching it's not boring at all because they use techniques you don't see anywhere else for example marking out the rows to the closest centimeter is really interesting and requires a lot of concentration we're going to plant almost 18 000 salads these are some numbers for a garden in a regular business you'd never see orders as big as these it's mainly the quantities all the weeding has to be done by hand it's very impressive The Gardens of the Chateau run alongside the village of vilondri and the local school [Applause] [Music] this little Primary School gets help and advice from logon Portuguese head Gardener at the Chateau thank you this is a school where you learn that the Earth is fertile and if you put your hands in it it's not to get your fingers dirty but to make food for tomorrow all the teachers in the school wanted to create a garden so we decided to Embark upon a project with the children mainly the bigger ones who have worked on different blueprints then we decided to work in symmetry in relation to the Gardens at the Chateau The Next Step was planting the flowers and vegetables and here too we decided to respect a symmetry of color but we had a few problems the first year come on you have to plant the cabbages now where should I put this over there we'll have six cabbages here hold the leaves put some Earth there and press it gently with your fingers next one behind there's spinach [Music] and cabbages have a beautiful garden in their Village so it's important that they get involved that they get to know it and that they don't just see it as a as a public park because they can go there for free they need to understand that it's a job and it will help them develop some understanding of how gardening works and it'll train them so we have gardeners in the future to replace us they're the Next Generation [Music] leaving healthy land to these children is the primary preoccupation in willemri The Chateau is cultivating best practices to respect biodiversity it is committed to an organic approach to not using pesticides they share their more Innovative methods [Music] bless the widespread use of chemicals is very brutal not at all subtle and is non-selective here we are always on our guard watching what is happening and favoring prevention I think the results achieved over the last three years show that this is working very well and I think the villandry could serve as an example and that's very important what is remarkable here is that one is dealing with a very structured kitchen Garden that has been entirely shaped by man it's naturally under attack from all kinds of pests that want to eat these magnificent vegetables for decades and until recently the only way to combat them and various diseases was to treat with synthetic chemical pesticides and we've seen here in this Garden if you use a lot of pesticides you soon reach the limits of such a system by that I mean that they had to use more and more pesticides and it was increasingly difficult to achieve the same results while the garden looks the same as it always has we're no longer using any kind of chemicals we're getting out the malays tent a tent that enables us to catch flying insects the key is to position it in a fairly open space is not to limit the flying insects this is a good place now we'll prepare the trap with a liquid made from salt water and soap the salt allows us to preserve the insects we capture and the soap kills them quickly that's it the tent is ready the idea is very simple we have four openings and the insects can't see the black so they bump into the tent and climb upwards in order to escape they end up in channels on each side that lead to a corridor that goes into this recipient and they become exhausted and drown in the container we leave the tent for 48 hours and then we'll have a look at the insects that were caught the cup will go here why don't now we fill it with the Trap liquid same used in the malays tent you have to close it up carefully all around so no earth falls into the cup this is targeting all climbing insects like beetles and such like there the two traps are in place all we need to do now is Place others in other parts of your laundry so we can carry out our study in full where are we we've just arrived at the University foreign just over here on the right here are the samples we've been carrying out a generalized study into insect populations into the balance between pests and predators we're trying to find solutions to combat certain pests that don't have natural predators in the laundry when the head Gardener has a problem he tells us about it and we look into it when he finds insects he's not familiar with he gives them to us to identify that way he knows what to do um we are monitoring the biodiversity to study its Evolution over time in terms of diseases and pests we work with villandry when they need it we still use certain natural products like sulfur and copper which can be toxic in high doses but they are still natural products and which are synthetic chemicals synthetic chemicals have too high an impact on the overall biodiversity we're now finding a much greater diversity of insects and beetles in particular beetles are very useful predators in gardens mainly because they eat worms and slugs Predator they're also Predators for certain pests since we stopped using chemicals we found a lot of insects are solving the problems we had with the chemicals there are other dragonflies look those ones are bigger located nearby the greenhouses the audience Pavilion is set aside for children has created an introduction to environmental gardening for them who can tell me what organic means when there's no chemicals used yes that's right when we talk about organic fruit and vegetables it means those fruit and vegetables that haven't been treated with chemicals or pesticides they have grown naturally with natural products and today we're going to see how you can grow vegetables naturally the first important rule for an organic garden is crop rotation if you always put the same plant in the same place every year it will always take the same food from the soil and the soil won't be fertile anymore the same for diseases if the plant is diseased the Earth will be contaminated and will carry the disease on from year to year the second important rule for organic gardening is understanding friendly plants and enemy plants plants like growing near other plants they like and which help them grow for example tomatoes are good to grow near cabbages why is that because the smell of tomatoes stops Cabbage White Butterflies from flying over the cabbages which then hatch into caterpillars that eat all the Cabbage leaves a good besides carrots it's the same thing because they prevent carrot fly oh at Harvest Time the vegetables are given away to staff and visitors who can go home with a seasonal meal thank you my name is Thomas and I've been a gardener at the Chateau de villandry for four years I replaced an elderly Gardener who retired I come to work here every day and I love it [Music] this morning we planted out beets over there and now we're planting celery I started work here in 1989. so I've been here for 25 years I'm the last of the old crew and I was here when they were using chemicals we would spray weed killer on the paths once a year so we'd have no weeds for 12 months and now we've gone back to organic gardening we do everything by hand and that's more work for everyone and you have to go back over the same places more frequently especially right now when it's been raining practically every day and the weeds grow back quickly now that we're organic you have to accept that it's a little less pretty than it was when we used chemicals when they killed everything of course it's beautiful but it killed all the insects now it's a little less beautiful but there are still insects including predatory insects that come naturally and kill certain other ones you can see that the broad beans have got black fly to combat that we introduced Lady Bird larvae because we garden organically here I love I were introduced in Spring they grew and the lady birds have reproduced creating a new cycle of larvae so we can keep fighting the black flight [Music] The chateau's Gardens have been labeled as a refuge by the lpo bird protection League photographers have carte blanche to practice their art here foreign [Music] came down and is now hidden in the vegetation we'll wait there until the adult returns with some food he came out of the nest not very long ago and it's still being fed by its parents it's happening very far away but the adult has just arrived I don't know if you can see it but the fledgling is on the sure and the adult is above we did the idea is to create an exhibition on the birds the gardens were classified as an lpo Refuge last year I think so to illustrate all the wildlife biodiversity in the gardens we were asked to do a photo reportage over an 18-month period the aim is to carry out a photographic census of the birds here not necessarily to produce a collection but to try and create some artistic photographs 90 to 100 species have been observed on the site which proves that it is a very attractive site for Birds is the black bird back out again for a look around they like staying hidden but after a while it's ours it's gone we come here regularly to cover the various Wildlife events feeding the Blackbird will last a day or two and then afterwards it will be too late foreign at the start of the season when the flowers haven't yet filled the beds with color the strict organization of the garden makes it seem like a giant chessboard with pawns and Bishops placed between the perfectly straight box hedges so it's no surprise that the proprietor of the Chateau is a fan of the game and offers introductory lessons for newcomers and competitions for champions this is getting difficult you're giving the game away yes well such generosity Bravo [Music] laundry regularly hosts events such as the kitchen garden festival the garden Rendezvous illuminated soirees and today there's a chess themed event and we are hosting the French speed chess championships those playing Black compress the start button includes each player has 20 minutes yeah there are some very young players here there's even one girl who is the regional champion in the under tens age group that means she's the best in her category chances become very popular in schools over the last few years it is very educational and it helps children learn self-control concentration and reflection whilst having fun we also have another very talented French girl here who is four times French Champion for slow games which better show how good a player is [Music] her name is I learned to play chess when I was four and I started entering competitions when I was seven I won my first French youth champion title when I was 15. and then I was four times French champion and I've just won my first French speed chess champion title here there are traditional ways to start a game and everybody knows them but there are a lot of them after a certain time after the 10th game you start to leave the theory behind and find yourself in unknown situations where you have to think but that explains why it goes so quickly at first in 2000 chess became a sport it's a sport that is less physical than football for example but it's a sport where players play against one another and each player is equally matched which responds well to the definition of a sport it is very competitive and our Champions really fight hard to win there's a great atmosphere here and chess being a game of Kings it's great to play in a chateau which is really fit for the purpose I'm very happy to continue organizing chess related events here that please our visitors and help animate the shattered de villandry which is dedicated to cultural tourism but should be open to more sporty fun activities [Applause] foreign a few years ago Mr Carvalho the owner of the Chateau made me responsible for the tennis activity on this court which as you can see is a grass called very few in France around 10 perhaps where Mr caravallo's great grandfather acquired this property this area was dirt like a clay Court you might see today with a patch of grassless land that was more or less abandoned gradually because it was abandoned the area became a meditative place somewhere people came for some peace but if you came here as a tennis player you could immediately imagine it being a tennis court because of the dimensions came up with a project to create a Grass Court here which requires a lot of work and which in the spirit of the Chateau provides an additional Garden among the others first and foremost it is perhaps a special Garden in which one can have fun before being a place where competitions of the like are held several times a year visitors have a pleasant surprise when they arrive here to discover this wonderful place and they can have fun playing Barefoot and jeans and enjoy what is above everything an unusual special Garden Betty you need to go here if you go there it's Australian style but that's good for us it is clearly the laundry's vocation now to both seek Beauty and to be as open as possible and I think there's a very pleasant Ambiance having tennis played in a garden here the word open is a serious one here because the gardens are open from sunrise to sunset vilondri has an impressive record of all the Shadows of the Loire Valley philandery's visitors Stay the Longest on average they stay here for over three hours Enchanted by the magic of nature here it's easy to stroll around and forget the passage of time foreign [Music] the fascination for the gardens does not however overshadow any interest for the Interiors to visit them we will once again follow this light-footed man who was foregone the opportunity to live in his Chateau in order to dedicate it to the memory and passions of its past occupants beautiful challenge [Music] here we are in the dining room which is characteristic of the style of Mr de castellan who wanted to bring his Provencal roots to the interior villandry in the 18th century the tones the fountain here and all the decorative elements remind us of his taste for Provence his land of origin [Music] thank you something like that here we are in the gallery of Spanish art which was the original reason for the acquisition of the Chateau de villandry by my great-grandparents they were carrying out medical research in Paris and had begun to put together this collection of Spanish art which was their main artistic interest they subsequently became interested in architecture and Gardens but they were looking for a Big Country House in which to present their collection because their apartment in Paris was no longer big enough vilondry had its Gallery space which is quite remarkable and was perfect for presenting These Fine paintings which are mainly from 17th century Spain foreign you can see this wonderful mother jar style ceiling which was installed here by my great-grandfather Joe Kim Cavallo who often went to Spain to buy art he found it in an auction in Toledo this Moorish ceiling that is highly characteristic of the mudajar style of the Arab Artisans who stayed in Spain a long time after the Christian reconquest which happened in Toledo towards the end of the 16th century it is composed of over 3 000 pieces of sea duck that make up a veritable jigsaw puzzle yeah we're delighted to welcome you here for this illumination Workshop you're rich going to make a piece that you will paint and which you can take home we're in the universe of painting and we're going to bring some flowers to life you're going to be Botanical painters and colorists these are Botanical paintings that are made in the traditional way there was no printing back then and they needed a way to share these works and the technique they came up with was the one you're going to use this used to be called a cash back in the Middle Ages but today we call it a stencil and thanks to the stencil you have the place for the colors you're going to add the paint is water-based paint or gouache and we put it on with these lovely little brushes made from Pink bristles you've seen how beautiful all the flowers are at the Chateau de vilondri there are lots of different colors and each flower has its own ways they have little touches of color little shady Parts different reliefs and sometimes different Greens on the leaves you're going to do just like what nature does you're going to use the stencil and you'll choose how to arrange the color you'll lay down the colors plain colors little contrasts and highlights okay you were the artists of nature today the art of Illumination is the art of Khan natural color these are the illustrations that we used in manuscripts for the Middle Ages you can find this wonderful art through the huge palette of all the colors that comes from the work of the gardeners who wake up the flowers we're going to use the whole flower or just parts of it to make the colors and the frame is what brings it all together you can color the edges a little and then it's finished it's yellow ocher like the Earth is it really yours yes have you studied ancient history it's exactly the same Earth the prehistoric man used it's pretty isn't it well done look she's finished babies [Music] this inspirational Place encourages different vocations stand behind the painter and listen closely you might learn something I'm here to resolve the problem of the begonias which is no mean feat how to paint begonias it's like that is a fascinating thing about painting trying to find things out first I'm gonna find the different colors of the begonias and then I'll do the leaves and the Earth because I'm going to put out the fire around them first I'm going to set it on fire and then I'll take care of the rest which doesn't burn but the thing is to start with the powerful color of these flowers so beloved of grandmothers caretakers flowers when you come to the laundry to paint or draw first you open your eyes by Dent of looking you start to see and what you see is amazing it's nature that has been completely domesticated I think in the end it's that rigidity of form and the rigidity of drawing the garden that reassures the people looking at it there's something reassuring about it You're Not Afraid here you're sure of what you see this painting of The Box Hedges with the begonias is an extreme vision of villandry and this is also has some very natural areas they need to adhere it's extremely rigid geometric diagram that is so precise that I wanted to show its scene from above like a like a drawing from above I also like the hearts I like Gardens of love with all the symbolism and there is that contrast of extraordinary colors with these fluorescent Reds and Dark Yet Rich greens I think I've come up with a way to do the begonias using a white that I hardly ever use a white they call transparent White [Music] foreign Gardens represent four love themes there's Tender Love with the beautifully shaped hearts still flowering in pink there's passionate love with the deformed hearts that seem like they are turning around in the walls there is adulterous love with these symbols representing fans and their butterfly wings to underscore the infidelity and lastly there's a tragic love which no longer has Hearts but dagger blades flowering red the color of blood and there are 72 yew trees that have been pruned according to the strict villandry style a cube of you and three crowns topped with a dome reuse are important our box Hedges and flowers to offer a tableau to our visitors year round talks about our visitors like everyone who works here he has appropriated the success each employee is responsible for one area that they are given to manage they can go ahead and get involved giving free reign to their creativity this is the case for Emmanuel who with her catering team has created a natural style of food that has served in the barns of the Chateau her recipes are inspired from age-old knowledge every day I come to pick some herbs for the restaurant and I don't take huge quantities I've managed the catering at the Chateau for 14 years now I try to work with the head Gardener according to the seasons that way I can introduce our visitors to the use of Monk wart or rhubarb which they have seen growing when they toured the gardens we use all of that this is comfrey and I use it in soups it binds very well I'm really lucky to be able to use a little of the plants from the simple garden where we are now of course it wasn't really planted for my restaurant kitchen everything in this Garden is from the Middle Ages when people used a lot of herbs for medicinal purposes [Music] the arrow is flowering now we use the flowers in food and the leaves for infusions or in salads I use the gardens for the restaurant so there is a connection and sense of Discovery for visitors all our customers regular or otherwise like the freshness of it and they have discovered quite a few flavors that they've never tasted elsewhere you need to keep it simple in the kitchen simple and tasty I just want to make people happy [Music] the sun Garden makes people happy Beauty on offer here makes people happy [Music] which speaks the silent language of the swans also makes our photographer happy [Music] not a blade of grass must be out of place on the slope where thousands of Spectators will sit to watch the show of the year the night of a thousand fires it's very important to avoid any contact between the two otherwise it will short-circuit and the row won't ignite I'm connecting these all together that will link up all the fireworks that will go off together in a row with a little electric cable so that when a current is sent through tonight it will catch fire [Music] tonight is going to be explosive the preparations for this nighttime event are done by pyro technicians who know how to ignite these fountains and bouquets of light if nothing goes wrong with this tangle of electric cables then the display will take the crowd's breath away [Applause] meanwhile others distribute the candles that will burn for eight hours according to a precisely symmetrical plan tonight we're organizing the night of a thousand five the grounds of the Chateau will be lighting up between 1800 and 2 000 candles there will be activities in the gardens including a spectacular firework displayed by the water over there there will also be a Sony Lumiere show that would be old-fashioned wooden games and the whole evening will be a feast for the eyes the night falls and you see the gardens lit up by all these candles it's like a fairy tale and the Chateau looks fabulous 45 minutes left to finish lighting the candles so you'd better get a move on thank you the kids don't want to miss the Thousand fires it's sacred to them okay let's go take care of the candles it's a great experience it's really fun let's go open the gate let's get on with the show it's a good idea to get here early [Music] the weather is lovely and the candles are working well everyone is in great mood the gardens look beautiful and very satisfied the only thing is that I'm always worried there'll be too many visitors but I think it should be okay [Music] all right [Applause] in the court of honor open to all ages the evening's visitors can play without Stakes have fun without risk and dream Without Limits oh okay [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Real Royalty

Views: 77,988

Keywords: Catherine de Medici, French history, architectural treasures, chateaux of France, contemporary art, cultural heritage, documentary series, historical architecture, historical figures, historical furniture, historical landmarks, historical paintings, historical treasures, majestic palaces, medieval art, royal dynasties, royal families, royal portraits, royal residences, world cultural heritage

Id: Aq4U0vfP4V8

Length: 102min 58sec (6178 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 11 2022