Places to see in ( Nancy - France ) Place Stanislas
Places to see in ( Nancy - France ) Place Stanislas
The Place Stanislas is a large pedestrianised square in the French city of Nancy, in the Lorraine region. Since 1983, the architectural ensemble comprising the Place Stanislas, the extension of its axis, the Place de la Carrière, and the Place d'Alliance, has been on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The square was a major project in urban planning, conceived by Stanisław I as a way to link the medieval old town of Nancy and the new town built in the 17th century under Charles III, Duke of Lorraine. The square was also intended as a place royale to honour Stanisław's son-in-law, Louis XV. The design created a large urban square or place that linked two handsome existing buildings: the Hôtel de Ville (city hall, now centred on its grand square) and the Hôtel du Gouvernement, the seat of the duchy. The seat of city government and the seat of Ducal government thus faced each other as complements through a series of rational, symmetrical but varied urban spaces, unequalled in Europe at the time.
In 1831, a bronze statue of Stanisław (Stanislas in French) was placed in the middle of the square; since then it has been known as the 'Place Stanislas'. The square has always been used for public assemblies and festivities. It has undergone several makeovers in its history and, in a low period of appreciation, served as a car parking area for nearly a quarter of a century, between 1958 and 1983.
The city has since reserved it for pedestrian use. In 2004 and 2005, the city undertook a massive restoration of the square, based on the original 18th-century plans. The ten-month project cost approximately 9 million euros. It was financed by a combination of city and local, regional, national and private funds. The inauguration of the new Place Stanislas, in May 2005, coincided with the square's 250th anniversary.
The Place Stanislas is 125 metre long and 106 metre wide. It is paved with light ochre stones, with two lines of darker stones forming a diagonal cross motif. The square is surrounded by an architecturally harmonious ensemble of buildings, most notably these:
The City Hall (Hôtel de Ville) of Nancy, which occupies the entire south side of the square, with the prefectural office of Meurthe-et-Moselle at the south-east corner
To the east, the Opera house (formerly the Bishop's Palace) and the Grand Hôtel (originally the Hôtel de la Reine, actually occupied by the Intendant Alliot)
To the west, the Fine Arts Museum (originally the Collège de médecine) and the Pavillon Jacquet (originally a commercial/residential building, now mostly offices)
On the north side, the buildings were kept lower for defensive purposes (to permit crossfire between the Vaudemont and the Haussonville bastions).
An arc de triomphe, by Emmanuel Héré, stands in the centre of the fourth side, leading to the adjoining Place de la Carrière, where the main axis is developed as a double avenue of trees, with symmetrical buildings facing each other down its length.
The far end is defined by the hemi-cycles of colonnades that enclose the sides and are carried across the pre-existing façade of the Palais du Gouvernement.
The four corners and the west and east sides of the square feature gilded wrought iron gates and lanterns, created by Jean Lamour (1698–1771); who was also responsible for the wrought iron balustrade on the main staircase in the Hôtel de Ville
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Château de Chenonceau, Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France, Europe
The Château de Chenonceau is a French château spanning the River Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. It is one of the most well-known châteaux of the Loire valley. The estate of Chenonceau is first mentioned in writing in the 11th century. The current château was built in 1514--1522 on the foundations of an old mill and was later extended to span the river. The bridge over the river was built (1556-1559) to designs by the French Renaissance architect Philibert de l'Orme, and the gallery on the bridge (1570--1576) to designs by Jean Bullant. An architectural mixture of late Gothic and early Renaissance, Château de Chenonceau and its gardens are open to the public. Other than the Royal Palace of Versailles, it is the most visited château in France. The château is classified as a Monument historique since 1840 by the French Ministry of Culture. Today, Chenonceau is a major tourist attraction and in 2007 received around 800,000 visitors. In the 13th century, the fief of Chenonceau belonged to the Marques family. The original château was torched in 1412 to punish owner Jean Marques for an act of sedition. He rebuilt a château and fortified mill on the site in the 1430s. Jean Marques's indebted heir Pierre Marques found it necessary to sell. Thomas Bohier (fr) Chamberlain for King Charles VIII of France purchased the castle from Pierre Marques in 1513 (this leads to 2013 being considered the 500th anniversary of the castle: MDXIII--MMXIII.) Bohier demolished the castle, though its 15th-century keep was left standing, and built an entirely new residence between 1515 and 1521. The work was sometimes overseen by his wife Katherine Briçonnet, who delighted in hosting French nobility, including King Francis I on two occasions. In 1535 the château was seized from Bohier's son by King Francis I of France for unpaid debts to the Crown; after Francis' death in 1547, Henry II offered the château as a gift to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who became fervently attached to the château along the river. In 1555 she commissioned Philibert de l'Orme to build the arched bridge joining the château to its opposite bank. Diane then oversaw the planting of extensive flower and vegetable gardens along with a variety of fruit trees. Set along the banks of the river, but buttressed from flooding by stone terraces, the exquisite gardens were laid out in four triangles. Diane de Poitiers was the unquestioned mistress of the castle, but ownership remained with the crown until 1555, when years of delicate legal maneuvers finally yielded possession to her. After King Henry II died in 1559, his strong-willed widow and regent Catherine de' Medici forced Diane to exchange it for the Château Chaumont. Queen Catherine then made Chenonceau her own favorite residence, adding a new series of gardens. As Regent of France, Catherine would spend a fortune on the château and on spectacular nighttime parties. In 1560, the first ever fireworks display seen in France took place during the celebrations marking the ascension to the throne of Catherine's son Francis II. The grand gallery, which extended along the existing bridge to cross the entire river, was dedicated in 1577. She also added rooms between the chapel and the library on the east side of the corps de logis, as well as a service wing on the west side of the entry courtyard. Catherine considered an even greater expansion of the château, shown in an engraving published by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau in the second (1579) volume of his book Les plus excellents bastiments de France. If this project had been executed, the current château would have been only a small portion of an enormous manor laid out like pincers around the existing buildings. On Catherine's death in 1589 the château went to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, wife of King Henry III. At Chenonceau Louise was told of her husband's assassination in 1589 and she fell into a state of depression, spending the remainder of her days wandering aimlessly along the château's corridors dressed in mourning clothes amidst somber black tapestries stitched with skulls and crossbones. Henri IV obtained Chenonceau for his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées by paying the debts of Catherine de' Medici, which had been inherited by Louise and were threatening to ruin her. In return Louise left the château to her niece Françoise de Lorraine, at that time six years old and betrothed to the four-year-old César de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme, the natural son of Gabrielle d'Estrées and Henri IV.
新欧洲欧团网法国东部3天游之南锡斯坦尼斯拉广场 Place Stanislas，Nancy
Place Stanislas，Nancy
一直到17 世紀中期，南錫的老城與新城都被一片廣闊的空地所分離。1737年，斯坦尼斯拉(Stanislas Leszczynski，原波蘭國王)被封爲洛林公爵，當時他便計劃建造一個頌揚他女婿法國國王路易十五的廣場─法國第一個皇家廣場，用以神聖化皇家形象及迎辦民間慶典；斯坦尼斯拉和他的建築師Emmanuel Héré，不顧軍事指揮官Belle-Isle元帥長期的反對，毅然選擇了老城與新城間的那片空地來建造這個廣場。
1752年3月，正式鋪砌皇家廣場的第一塊石頭；1755年11月舉行了盛大的落成儀式。廣場正中央豎立著一尊路易十五穿著古代服飾的銅像，雕刻家Guibal 與Cyfflé 之作。這尊銅像及周圍含有皇家寓意的雕塑都在法國大革命時被摧毀，1831年被一座新的斯坦尼斯拉雕像所代替。
廣場的四周座落著高大有序的古典風格建築，南面聳立著市政廳，東面則是大府(Grand Hôtel)與洛林南錫歌劇院(Opéra de Nancy et de Lorrain)，西面是Jacquet樓及美術博物館(Musée des Beaux-Arts，在斯坦尼斯拉時期為醫學院)，北面Vaudémont與d'Haussonville護城塔間的護城牆邊，爲了軍事防禦的需要，Emmanuel Héré構想出低面設計。
斯坦尼斯广场长125米，宽106米，铺设亮赭石石块，和两排较暗的石头，形成一个对角交叉线图案。这个广场四周的建筑物构成建筑和谐的整体，最显著的有：
南锡市政厅，占据整个广场的南侧，东南角有默尔特-摩泽尔省府
东侧，歌剧院（原主教宫）及大宫（原皇后宫，实际上由Intendant阿利奥占据）;
西侧：美术博物馆（原医学院）和雅凯亭
北侧的建筑物，出于防御目的，高度较低（允许在沃代蒙和奥松维尔堡垒之间开火）。
广场的中心是一座凯旋门，通向毗邻的卡里耶尔广场，主轴线在那里成为一条双林荫大道 树木，道路全线两侧均为互相对称的建筑物。
最远的一端是阿利扬斯广场（Place d'Alliance），四面都是封闭的半圆柱廊，结束于原有建筑政府宫。
Loire Castles - Chenonceau
The Château de Chenonceau is a manor house near the small village of Chenonceaux, in the Loire Valley in France. It was built on the site of an old mill on the River Cher, sometime before its first mention in writing in the 11th century. Henry II offered the château as a gift to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who became fervently attached to the château along the river. After King Henry II died in 1559, his strong-willed widow and regent, Catherine d' Medici had Diane expelled, and made Chenonceau her own favorite residence. On Catherine's death in 1589 the château went to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, wife of King Henry III. Another mistress took over in 1624, when Gabrielle d'Estrées, the favorite of King Henry IV, inhabited the castle. After that, it was owned by Louise's heir César of Vendôme and his wife, Françoise of Lorraine, Duchess of Vendôme, and subsequently, the chateau's ownership passed quietly down the Valois line of inheritance. With all these ladies, it was no wonder Chenonceau was sometimes called the Ladies' Castle.
A wall of elegance built over the Cher river, the Chenonceau chateau is one of the highlights of Renaissance architecture.The wealth of decoration both inside and outside makes Chenonceau the most popular chateau in France.
The ground floor of the chateau is centered around a gallery built over the five-arched bridge that crosses the Cher. Designed as a ballroom, the floor is covered with enameled tiles, and it leads to the larger rooms, such as the magnificently furnished bedrooms of François I and Louis XIII, who was the last king to come to the chateau, and to the drawing room. Also well furnished with original Renaissance furnitures and decorations are the bedchambers of Diane de Poitiers, Catherine d'Medici, Louise de Lorraine, and the Five Queens (named in memory of Catherine de' Medici's two daughters and three daughters-in-law: Queen Margot, wife of Henry IV; Elisabeth of Valois, wife of Philip II of Spain; Mary, Queen of Scots, wife of Francis II; Elisabeth of Austria, wife of Charles IX, and Louise of Lorraine, wife of Henry III).
An architectural mixture of late Gothic and early Renaissance, Château de Chenonceau and its gardens are open to the public. Other than the Royal Palace of Versailles, Chenonceau is the most visited château in France.
There was so much to see in the chateau and its gardens, but we didn't have time. From the parking area, we walked to the village to have lunch at Au Gateau Breton. The restaurant offers a fixed menu of salads and entrees, a main dish of fish, beef or chicken, with vegetables, and dessert. No soda included because the meal came with white and red wine, plus mineral water (so I was charged 3.90 euros for a tiny bottle of Coke). The sun terrace is at the back of a 2-century-old Breton-type inn, a short walk from the château --- definitely a refreshing place to dine. We paid 30 euros each for this lunch (included in the 180 euros tour package). But once in a while, it felt good to splurge. Cybele and Camille both enjoyed the fish fillet in white and butter sauce, and their favorite dessert, apple pie, chocolate mousse, and fruit tart, while I had capuccino and chocolate mousse too.
Then off we went to the last castle to visit, the largest and most impressive in the Loire Valley --- Chambord.