法国 Chenonceau 城堡花园 – 卢瓦尔河谷女性文化遗产保护园

卢瓦尔河舍农索城堡与舍农索河上的拱桥

法国 Chenonceau 城堡（Château de Chenonceau）位于中央-卢瓦尔河谷大区安德尔-卢瓦尔省 Chenonceaux 镇，跨越舍农索河（le Cher），是卢瓦尔河谷城堡群中最负盛名的几座城堡之一，仅次于凡尔赛宫，是法国年度访客量排名第二的城堡建筑（2007 年约 80 万人次）。城堡始建于 12 至 13 世纪，最早由 Marques 家族领有；1412 年原中世纪建筑被纵火焚毁，1430 年代由 Pierre Marques 在原地重建堡垒与磨坊。1513 年 Thomas Bohier 从 Pierre Marques 手中购入此地并拆除大部分旧结构，1515 至 1521 年间由其妻 Catherine Briçonnet 主持新建，目前所见城堡主体即奠基于此。城堡自 1840 年起被法国文化部列为历史建筑（Monument historique），今天由 Menier 家族持有并向公众开放。

女性守护者传承与凯瑟琳·德·美第奇的拱桥画廊

Chenonceau 城堡的历史由一组几乎不间断的女性谱系书写：Thomas Bohier 之妻 Catherine Briçonnet 主持初期建造；1547 年亨利二世将城堡赠与其情妇 Diane de Poitiers，Diane 委托 Philibert de l’Orme 在 1555 至 1559 年间建造跨越舍农索河的拱桥，并主持沿河布置花圃与果树；1559 年亨利二世辞世后，王太后凯瑟琳·德·美第奇（Catherine de’ Medici）强迫 Diane 以 Chenonceau 交换肖蒙城堡，扩建了 1570 至 1576 年由建筑师 Jean Bullant 设计的桥上长廊（Grand Gallery），长 60 米跨越整条河面，是文艺复兴时期法国宫廷夜宴与 1560 年法国首次烟火表演的举办场所。法国大革命期间，1733 年购入城堡的 Louise Dupin 利用其”横跨河面的唯一桥梁”功能保住了城堡，逃过被革命派拆毁的命运。1913 年 Henri Menier 购入城堡，家族持有至今。

12,000 平方米文艺复兴几何花园与 70 公顷英式园林

Chenonceau 城堡花园由五处风格迥异的庭园构成：Diane de Poitiers 花园（12,000 平方米漂浮式 parterre 几何花圃，1550 年代由 Diane 设计，当前布局由 19 世纪末 Achille Duchêne 重置）；凯瑟琳·德·美第奇花园（5,500 平方米意大利文艺复兴风格对湖景小花园）；绿色花园（Green Garden，1825 年由 Lord Seymour 为城堡女主人、植物学家 Countess of Villeneuve 设计的英式园圃，面朝北侧）；凯瑟琳·德·美第奇迷宫花园（意大利式迷宫，位于 70 公顷园林林间空地，2,000 株紫杉构成，覆盖逾 1 公顷，中心有八角亭可眺望全园）；花艺工作坊（Ateliers Floraux，全法唯一专属城堡的鲜花工作室，由两位花艺专家全年照管 1 公顷切花花园，首席花艺师持 Meilleur Ouvrier de France 法国最佳工匠称号）。苗圃花园（jardin du plant）则负责为城堡全年花艺布置供应约 100 种切花品种，分 12 块方田以苹果树与 Queen Elisabeth 月季围边。园内种植约 2,000 株紫杉（Taxus baccata），全部于 18 世纪中期由 Menier 家族前任园丁引入，多数植株树龄逾百年。

城堡周边的林地、苗圃与花卉苗床

除主花园外的 70 公顷园区围绕城堡形成多重景观带：北侧为林地公园（le bois），种植法国常见的山毛榉（Fagus sylvatica）、橡树（Quercus robur）与栗树（Castanea sativa）形成林冠层，下层为野生的紫杉与欧洲红豆杉（Taxus baccata）；东侧沿舍农索河延伸的果园带（le verger）保留 19 世纪末栽种的梨树、苹果树与樱桃树，仍按传统修剪方式整形；南侧为温室苗圃（les serres chaudes），全年培育天竺葵（Pelargonium）、倒挂金钟（Fuchsia）与大丽花（Dahlia）盆花，供主花园与桥上长廊轮换布置；西侧接 Diane de Poitiers 几何花圃的切花田（les carrés fleuris），按月令轮植郁金香（Tulipa gesneriana, 4-5 月）、大丽花（Dahlia, 7-10 月）、秋海棠（Begonia semperflorens, 6-9 月）与紫罗兰（Matthiola incana），每季约 30 种共 25,000 株球根与一年生草本在此轮替；城堡南缘沿河岸还保留一段中世纪护城河（les douves），近年放养锦鲤（Cyprinus carpio）与本地鳟鱼（Salmo trutta）作为生态保留池。

馆藏文艺复兴大师绘画与花园节庆

城堡内部珍藏 16 至 18 世纪欧洲大师绘画，包括 Rubens、Primaticcio、Tintoret、Correggio、Van Loo、Murillo、Clouet、Sassoferrato、Andrea del Sarto、Ribalta、Nattier、Veronese、Poussin、Van Dyck、Bassano、Zurbarán 等作品，并藏有 15 世纪佛罗伦萨雕塑家 Mino da Fiesole 的雕像。1914 至 1918 年一战期间 Gaston Menier 将桥上长廊改造为战时医院病房；1940 年城堡遭德军轰炸，1944 年 6 月 7 日遭盟军反攻轰炸，礼拜堂被击中、彩绘玻璃被毁；1951 年起 Bernard Voisin 受 Menier 家族委托主持全面修复，使花园与建筑恢复旧观。城堡每年举办”夜间漫步”（Nocturnal Promenades）与”花园音乐之夜”等节庆活动，由巴黎第 19 区城堡管理处公布年度时间表；园内另设自助餐厅 L’Orangerie、可丽饼店与中世纪拱顶酒窖品酒室供访客餐饮，餐饮区每年 3 月中至 11 月中开放。

网站：https://www.chenonceau.com/

Château de Chenonceau and the Arched Gallery over the River Cher

Château de Chenonceau stands in the village of Chenonceaux, Indre-et-Loire, in France’s Centre-Val de Loire region. The château spans the River Cher and is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire Valley; after the Royal Palace of Versailles, it is the most-visited château in France, with around 800,000 visitors in 2007. The estate of Chenonceau is first mentioned in writing in the 11th century. The current château was built in 1515–1521 on the foundations of an old mill, originally for Thomas Bohier and his wife Catherine Briçonnet, who oversaw construction in his absence. The château was designated a Monument historique in 1840 by the French Ministry of Culture, and it remains in private hands, owned by the Menier family since 1913.

A Lineage of Female Keepers: Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de’ Medici, Louise Dupin

The history of Chenonceau is shaped by an almost uninterrupted succession of women who built, embellished, protected and saved it. Diane de Poitiers received the château as a gift from Henry II in 1547 and became deeply attached to it along the river. In 1555 she commissioned Philibert de l’Orme to build the arched bridge joining the château to its opposite bank, and she oversaw the planting of extensive flower and vegetable gardens set along the river buttressed from flooding by stone terraces. After Henry II died in 1559, his strong-willed widow Catherine de’ Medici forced Diane to exchange it for the Château de Chaumont. Queen Catherine then made Chenonceau her favourite residence, extending the bridge with the Grand Gallery designed by Jean Bullant (1570–1576); she also hosted the first fireworks display ever seen in France, in 1560. Louise Dupin, who purchased the estate in 1733, saved the château from destruction during the French Revolution because it was essential as the only bridge across the river for many leagues.

Renaissance Parterres, Green Garden, Italian Maze and the Floral Workshop

The Chenonceau gardens comprise five distinct landscapes. The Garden of Diane de Poitiers is a “floating” parterre of 12,000 m² whose structure dates from the Renaissance but whose current layout was redesigned by Achille Duchêne (1866–1947). The Garden of Catherine de’ Medici (5,500 m²) faces the lake and park in the Italian Renaissance manner. The Green Garden was laid out by Lord Seymour in 1825 for the Countess of Villeneuve, a renowned botanist who wanted an English-style park. Located in a clearing in the 70-hectare park, the Italian maze commissioned by Catherine de’ Medici uses 2,000 yew trees and covers more than a hectare; at its centre a raised gazebo offers an elevated view of the whole ensemble. For over 20 years the château has run a Floral Workshop unique in France: two flower experts tend a one-hectare cut-flower garden every day of the year, and the head florist holds the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Artisan in France). The estate also cultivates roughly 2,000 yew specimens (Taxus baccata), most of them more than a century old, planted under earlier owners of the Menier estate.

Woodland, Orchard and Floral Beds Surrounding the Château

Beyond the five named gardens, the 70-hectare estate forms layered landscapes around the château. To the north lies the woodland (le bois), dominated by beech (Fagus sylvatica), oak (Quercus robur) and sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), with an understorey of European yew (Taxus baccata). To the east, an orchard belt (le verger) along the River Cher preserves 19th-century pear, apple and cherry trees shaped by traditional pruning. To the south, heated glasshouses (les serres chaudes) rear Pelargonium, Fuchsia and Dahlia stock for the formal gardens and Grand Gallery all year round. West of Diane de Poitiers’ parterre, twelve seasonal cutting beds (les carrés fleuris) rotate roughly 25,000 bulbs and annuals—Tulipa gesneriana in April-May, Dahlia from July to October, Begonia semperflorens in summer and Matthiola incana in autumn. The southern moat (les douves) has been restocked as an ecological refuge for koi carp (Cyprinus carpio) and native brown trout (Salmo trutta).

Renaissance Masters, War Hospital, and the Restoration by Bernard Voisin

The château houses an extraordinary collection of 16th- to 18th-century European paintings by Rubens, Primaticcio, Tintoretto, Correggio, Van Loo, Murillo, Clouet, Sassoferrato, Andrea del Sarto, Ribalta, Nattier, Veronese, Poussin, Van Dyck, Bassano and Zurbarán, along with sculpture by the 15th-century Florentine Mino da Fiesole. During the First World War Gaston Menier converted the Grand Gallery into a military hospital ward. The château was bombed by German forces in June 1940 and again by Allied forces on 7 June 1944, when the chapel was hit and its stained glass destroyed. In 1951 the Menier family entrusted the restoration to Bernard Voisin, who brought the dilapidated structure and the flood-ravaged gardens back to their former glory. The estate runs seasonal events including the Nocturnal Promenades and Concert Nights in the Gardens programme; on-site dining includes the L’Orangerie self-service restaurant in the former royal stables, the crêperie by the car park, and tastings in the 16th-century vaulted wine cellar.

Official Site: https://www.chenonceau.com/