Château dit Le Duché

English translation

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History

"First Duchy of France", the castle has been the fief of the same house for nine centuries. The building of the Vicomty is thus named because it was built by Robert, direct descendant at the eighth generation of the first Uzès to whom the line traced back is attributed, in favour of whom, to reward him for his bravery at the Battle of Cassel, Philip VI erected in 1328 the bailiwick of Uzès into a Viscounty. The wing of the 16th century is built by Antoine de Crussol, first Duke of Uzès, whose loyalty to the royal cause during the Wars of Religion earned him being showered with favours by Charles IX. Member of the privy council, knight of honour of the queen, knight of the Order of Saint-Michel, commanding for the king the provinces of Languedoc, Provence and Dauphiné, he obtained in 1572 the erection of his dukedom into a prairie in order to "adorn it with all the titles and prerogatives which could increasingly exalt and extol it". The square tower of the castle is named Bermonde tower in remembrance of a former lord of Uzès.

Description

The castle is located on a height in the centre of the town. The entrance gate to the estate comes from a temple dedicated to Augustus. It is framed by two columns of granite from the French Alps from a Roman monument, and surmounted by the arms of the Duke of Uzès and the motto: Ferro non auro. The castle consists of two buildings of different periods. The one attached to the east of the keep bears the name of the Viscounty building. The estate also presents an imposing square tower from the 10th century, topped by turrets and which forms the keep of the duchy. To the west of the keep extends the wing built in the 16th century. The keep and the Bermonde tower are built on Roman foundations. A wing of the castle is transformed and doubled in the 16th century and the facade is dated 1566. This facade designed by Philibert Delorme presents the three orders of classical Antiquity: Doric on the ground floor, Ionic on the first floor and Corinthian on the second floor. It is adorned with columns, pilasters, bas-reliefs and capitals. The barrel vault staircase with sculpted vaults is very reminiscent of that of the Pau castle. The building is flanked by a chapel of flamboyant Gothic style, whose roof displays, in coloured bricks, the ducal arms. In the north-west rises the Vigie tower which dates from the end of the 12th century and resembles those of the Bastille. The north-east stair turret is dated to the 15th century. The 15th century chapel is almost entirely remade during the course of the 19th century. The great salon of Uzès is furnished with 18th century furniture. The estate possessed a series of springs which ended, by catchments and pipings, in a vast pond which fed the aqueduct of the Pont du Gard. Close to this basin are found a dwelling house, which underwent major restoration, and a fountain. The house retains a staircase with short straight flights, cut by square landings covered with small domes, as well as a series of French ceilings. The fountain consists of a central logette and a wall symmetrically composed of four panels separated by fluted pilasters and decorated with moulded panels, each surmounted by a sculpted head. The whole is crowned by a continuous entablature. The central logette, which could be entered by three small doors, gave access to a small semi-circular terrace, furnished with square balusters. The rim of the basin drew, almost at ground level, a wide semi-circle connected to two rectilinear set-backs.