Nantes – Rezé

A walk to La Poste is to experience a street that has been under repair for seven years and now one of the final stages is taking place in the form of block work that has a team of tradespeople bending all day as they meticulously cut and place stones. This artful mosaic of granite seems to be a statement of trust in a work that shouldn’t need touching for another 100 years. No wonder the underlying infrastructure would need to be deliberated over for so long but the end result is testimony to the respect given to these historical streets in French towns and cities.

On my way into Nantes I prefer to walk one stop back to the terminus at Rezé, adding time just to experience the grass tramlines. What could be considered mundane zones in France are treated with attention and expense elevating their status for the appreciation by pedestrians and motorists. A dry corner car park has the added value of a cooling grid canopy of pruned greenery and is located opposite contemporary shards, large rusted metal sculptures strewn in the grass at the entry point to the Reze commune. Shabby wild flowers are intentional, carpeting the tramlines once the line turns the corner towards Nantes a couple of km away. Every French town has a boulangerie and the geometry of this bold yellow building sits well within the precinct, adding a sense of exuberance to an area otherwise dominated by plain multi story accommodation.

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Google Maps – Reze

Nantes Parks

Loire-Atlantique 44

Loire-Atlantique is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. Originally, it was named Loire-Inférieure, but its name was changed in 1957 to Loire-Atlantique.

The area is part of the historical Duchy of Brittany, and contains what many people still consider to be Brittany’s capital, Nantes. However, when the system of French Regions was reviewed by the Vichy Government, the department was excluded from the Region of Brittany and included in the newly created Pays de la Loire Region.

While these administrative changes were reversed after the war, they were re-implemented in the 1955 boundary changes intended to optimise the management of the regions. There has since been a series of campaigns reflecting a strong local mood to have the department reintegrated with Brittany.

Nantes is nestled on the Loire estuary, the longest river in France and last wild river in Europe. Here, the river is still influenced by the tides, and flows in both directions! The giant cranes still bear witness to the intense port activity which the city experienced up until the mid-20^th century. Nowadays, the Loire acts as a backdrop for cultural activities, provides a haven for protected animals and plants and beckons people to enjoy the nearby beaches and coastline for relaxing or water sports.

As a city that was once home to the Dukes of Brittany, Nantes – a city which is Breton at heart – embodies the history of an area of transition between the countryside and the sea, between Brittany and the Loire, and between the roots of identity and the openness to discovery.

Google Maps – Loire Atlantique

Nantes – Château – Château de Bretagne

From the official website of Château de Bretagne

The monument

Set in the historic heart of Nantes, the Château des ducs de Bretagne is the city’s most important historic building, along with the Cathedral St. Pierre. When looking at it from the city, it is a fortress with 500 metres of curtain walls punctuated by seven towers, all linked by a sentry walkway. The inner courtyard reveals an elegant 15th century ducal residence made of tufa stone, in flamboyant gothic style and bearing the first traces of Renaissance inspiration, as well as other buildings dating back from the 16th and the 18th centuries. With their elegant white stone walls and sophisticated sculpted façades, they contrast strikingly with the rough textures of the exterior fortifications, made of granite blocks and separated by layers of schist.

History

The first ducal castle was built in the 13th century on top of the (still visible) Gallo-Roman wall of the town, where the Namnetes settled. It was demolished in the 15th century to make way for the present building. The current castle was the work of Francis II, the last Duke of an independent Brittany, who wanted to make the Château des ducs de Bretagne both a military fortress, which could act as a defence against the King, and the principal residence of the ducal court. Work was continued by Duchess Anne of Brittany, twice Queen of France through her marriages to Charles VIII and Louis XII. Her influence can be seen in the sculptural décor (dormer windows overlooking the main residence, as well as the coat of arms and loggias on the “Golden Crown” tower), marked by the first signs of the Italian Renaissance.

Following the integration of Brittany into France in 1532, during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Château des ducs de Bretagne became the residence of the kings of France when they visited Brittany, and later a military barracks, an arsenal, and a prison. For three centuries, it endured countless transformations and considerable damage: fortifications, a fire in 1670, construction of the Military Saddlery (Bâtiment du Harnachement) for storing artillery equipment, an explosion in 1800, and so on.

Listed as a historical monument in 1862, it was sold by the government to the City of Nantes in 1915 before also becoming, in 1924, a municipal museum. During World War II, the occupying German forces built a bunker there.

The renovation

The 1990s focussed on restoring the Jacobins’ Tower (Tour des Jacobins), the façades of the Principal Governor’s Palace (Grand Gouvernement – 15c/17c) and the 15th century Golden Crown Tower (Tour de la Couronne d’Or). The Military Saddlery (Harnachement – 18c) refurbished in 1997, was used for temporary exhibitions.

In 2000 work began on restoring the white tufa façades of the main ducal residence (Grand Logis – 15c) to their full glory. These are the oldest and most impressive sections of the building, providing a link between the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany and the Loire Châteaux. The bell tower has been rebuilt and the spires have been replaced on the Golden Crown Tower (Tour de la Couronne d’Or). The interior of the ducal residence has also been completely restored and redeveloped to house the museum.

The restoration has brought out the full power of the Breton feudal fortress and the elegance of the Renaissance ducal palace.

The castle reopened in 2007.

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Nantes – Museum – Nantes Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle

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Google Maps – Natural History Museum

Nantes – Museum – Musée Dobrée

The Musée Dobrée is a museum in Nantes, in the quartier Graslin in the immediate outskirts of the city centre and very close to the city’s Natural History Museum.

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Cathédrale Saint Pierre

Tomb of François II, last duke of Brittany and crypts

Nantes Cathedral, or the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul of Nantes, is a Roman Catholic church located in Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France. The cathedral is in the Gothic architectural tradition.

There is a stanza engraved on the back of the doors that tells us of when the first stones were laid in 1434, and with it one of the longest religious constructions in France was underway, building that wouldn’t be completed until 1893. Repair and restoration work was first undertaken after the 1972 fire and only finished once the cathedral had been returned to its original splendor. Behind the white-stone (and not in the more usual granite) of a double tower front, the nave rises to a full 37.5m – higher than at Notre-Dame in Paris.

The 11th century roman crypt actually hides the real treasure of the cathedral in the shape of a bigger second crypt dating back to the 19th century and today housing a permanent exhibition on the history of the cathedral.

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Nantes Parks – Grand Blottereau

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Nantes Parks – Parc de la Beaujoire – Roseraie in Autumn

Grand old gardens seem to assert the outer borders of Nantes in each direction but it is to the North that is located a roseraie for all seasons with ample flowering year round, baroque roses in the warmer months aside hardy new roses which still flower in the cold months. The old roses are deceptive, not to be judged quickly, for what comes coupled with the higher vulnerability is an aspect that ultimately adds to their mystique and appeal.

The rose garden has 20,000 rosebushes, representing nearly 1600 varieties. Inaugurated in June 1988, it is distinguished from its elders, such as Bagatelle in Paris and the Tête d’Or in Lyon, with an original design combining shrubs and perennials. The choice to associate perennials with roses has been made since its creation. The idea was to multiply the shrub layers and the flowers and thus to emphasize the roses even more. An association that quickly made sense when the rose garden was managed organically. As early as 1995, the service worked on an integrated biological protection principle (PBI). From a perennial herb dosage, the PBI can attract auxiliary insects that will rid the roses of aphids and avoid chemical treatment.

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Parc de la Beaujoire

Google Maps – Parc Floral Roseraie

Nantes Parks – Parc de la Chantrerie

During my first Summer I experienced France in some of its finest moments, the long sweeping shadows of the Chantrerie defining the late afternoon, small sparkling flower heads leaning in as we lunched alone on the rear manor house steps, oblivious to the activity the statues behind us had seen in centuries past.

History

Built on the banks of the Erdre, running for almost 900 meters, this 18 hectare park was once part of an estate belonging to the Nantes cathedral on the eve of the Revolution. There was an important farm where the incomes essentially derived from the cultivation of the vineyard (planted at the beginning of the 17th century), were used to maintain the cathedral choir, which explains the name – “Chantrerie” comes from the word chantre, to sing.

In 1697, Miss Jean Barrin, “singer in dignity of the cathedral church of Nantes”, rented out the house, lands and dependencies of La Chantrerie for a period of nine years to Marie Bernardeau, widow of Pierre Niel, originally from Carquefou. The farmhouse then comprised the main house, the press, the stable, the garden, meadows, arable land, woods, coppice, vineyards, and a right to fish on the Erdre.

Before the Revolution, the family Launey, a farming family occupied the estate paying 900 livres a year. Becoming a national property, Les Launay bought it in 1791 for the sum of 60,200 livres. Forty years later, the estate was owned by the Nantes architect Étienne Blon who built the present villa there in 1825. In 1831 his daughter Anne-Clemence married Louis Levesque, son of the mayor of Nantes Louis-Hyacinthe Levesque. The latter had the chapel erected in 1836 and in 1860 the house of his father-in-law was enlarged to give it a floor. In 1872 the landscapist Nantes’ Dominique Noisette who is also responsible for the development of the Parc de Procé was responsible for redesigning the park.

La Chantrerie remained in the hands of the Levesque family until 1922. In 1938 the owner Similien Normand sold it to the Drouins, a former family of ship owners later involved in road transport. The latter sold it to the city of Nantes in 1972. At the time of the acquisition it was 37 hectares in area with one half converted into a public park, the “Chantrerie Park” as we know it which was opened to the public in 1979, and the other half hosting the same year the buildings of the National Veterinary School of Nantes.

The villa, the surrounding pavilions, the orangery, part of the park and the chapel are listed in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments by decree of 20 May 1973.

The Parc de la Chantrerie has given its name to the Campus de la Chantrerie located nearby.