Château du Thor

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

Situated at the edge of the town, of which it strengthens the defence on the western front, protected by the arms of the river Sorgue on three sides, isolated from the urban fabric by its own enclosure, the former seigneurial castle of Thor is a particularly complex monument. The original building is inseparable from the fortified urban enclosure on which it rests its west and south facades: same construction of small rubble stone laid in opus spicatum, same render with false hollow-jointed ashlar courses. Its construction may date back to the very end of the 12th century or more probably to the first half of the 13th century. In the following centuries (14th or 15th century), it was enlarged, raised, its defences reinforced and modernized (loopholes, machicolations...), its floors put in place. The 16th century added a building of outbuildings, the farm, the 17th century a flight of stairs, well documented by a prix-fait (1629). The 18th century saw an important modernization of the castle, conducted in two main stages: 1723-1726 (numerous prix-faits) and around 1770. The whole was restored, the interior courtyard was opened, hitherto closed and surrounded by galleries on arcades, and the facades facing the town were rebuilt. In the 19th century, the building changed function, became a silk mill (ground floor) and plaster works (building constructed in 1846 at the rear); the upper floors were rearranged and decorated in the Napoléon III style. The current ensemble retains in part its fortified appearance: enclosure walls with a parapet walk, machicolations (for the most part remade in 1723 and without real defensive function), here a cruciform loophole, there a gun port... The buildings are distributed around a large courtyard, obtained by the union in the 18th century of the forecourt and the central courtyard: to the south-west, on an L-shaped plan completed by a shorter and lower wing to the north, the castle proper, comprising ground floor, two storeys and a roof space; to the north-east the former farm; to the south-east the building of stables and storage rooms. Product of numerous alterations and adaptations, the castle of Thor does not present the homogeneous character of certain great medieval castles of the region. Its interest is nonetheless multiple. It first lies in the testimony borne on the long history of an important residence of the Comtat Venaissin, from medieval fortification to the seigneurial residence of the 18th century. Certain details are significant in this regard, such as this taste for machicolations, which was not hesitated over in remaking in large number in the full 18th century (symbol of power and social rank no doubt?), at a time when, elsewhere in Provence, a classical repertoire would more readily be adopted. It is also due to its place in the urban context and especially to the preservation of authentic elements, pertaining to materials (opus spicatum...), to their implementation (old renders probably medieval, stonemason marks...), to structures (load-bearing pillars of the farm, ensemble of medieval ceilings preserved in the castle...), secondarily to decoration. Dendrochronological dating carried out in 2011 confirms construction from the middle of the 13th century. The avenue - probably planted with 40 plane trees from the outset - was created to the south of the castle, between 1839, the date of the realization of the royal road passing through Thor, and 1846. This avenue was originally intended for promenading, as testified by the stone benches still in place. Access was had from the castle courtyard by a door pierced at the same time in the south curtain wall, and by a small stone bridge, spanning the little Sorgue, situated to the west of the castle. Meadows extended to the west and south of the castle while the pleasure garden was situated to the east, towards the town, it was provided with a real tennis court until 1813. It became an access route to the castle only from 1865, the date of the construction of a stone bridge in its extension. This new communication made it possible primarily to serve the plaster works by harnessed vehicles, and in a secondary manner to reach the court of honour of the castle. This planted avenue, which marked strongly the southern axis of the castle, was not conceived, as often in the spirit of the castle owners, to assert power or prestige, but first for its amenity as a place of promenade, then for pragmatic reasons, by opening up access to the works.