The private tours from Paris to Loire castles from Paris for one day by a car, the individual programs. Our Guide book, interesting places to see. Bouthéon on the map of the castles of the Loire does not shown, as it is located outside, to the south, towards the city of Lyon.
Loire Valley Castles map -Chateaux, Wine cellars, best Museums & Cities
-View of Bouthéon Castle at the beginning of the 20th century, photo postcard.
Bouthéon Castle (Château de Bouthéon), XIII – XXI century, the city of Andrezieux-Boutheon in the Loire Valley.
Boutheon Castle is located in the vicinity of the Drill plain, in the municipality of Andrézieux-Bouthéon, in the Loire department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. This is one of the first castles located on the Loire River during its movement towards the ocean.
Former residence of La Fayette, Bourbon and Gadagne, Boutheon Castle is now in the ownership of the city and has been restored as a cultural and tourist site.
The castle is open all year round for visitors and corporate events. With nearly 69,490 visitors in 2014, it is the third attraction in the Loire after the Zoo Saint-Martin-la-Plaine and Chalmazel station. It is also the third most visited castle in the Rhône-Alpes region, after Château de Grignan in Drôme and Chateau d’Annecy in Haute-Savoie.
Boutheon Castle history.
Boutheon Castle is located in the French department of the Loire, in the municipality of Andrézieux (commune d’Andrézieux-Bouthéon), on a hill overlooking the Loire River and the Chambons horticultural area.
From the large tower of the Belvedere castle, a magnificent view of the plains and mountains opens up: Mont Pilat and Mont du Lyonnais.
The first mention of Boutheon Castle (formerly Bothéon) shows that its architecture has changed significantly since at least the thirteenth century. This fortress, which allowed control of the Loire River, the plains and mountains of the Mont du Lyonnais and Pilát, was the property of the Comtes du Forez in the thirteenth century and in the fourteenth until the change of ownership to Gaudemar de Reveux and his heirs, the Lords of Fay (Fay) in 1322 year, and Robert Chalus (Robert de Chalus) in 1386 and, finally, Louis de Joyeuse (Louis de Joyeuse) in 1420.
In 1423, Gilbert III Motier Marshal Lafayette married Jeanne de Joyeuse, who brought the castle as a dowry. Their second son, Antoine (1426–1480), was “Lord of Bothéon”, but Tanneguy the Vicomte de Joyeuse, his cousin, also claimed the title. The dispute was not resolved until about 1479-1480 and Tanneguy’s youngest son, Louis de Joyeuse, was able to transfer the lands of Boutheon to his son François and his granddaughter Jeanne de Joyeuse.
In 1462, John II, Duke of Bourbon (1426-1488), bought the castle and housed one of his mistresses, Marguerite Eventide. Their son, Mathieu de Bourbon, owner of the castle from 1486 until his death in 1505, built the north wing of the castle and its environs with the emblems of the Dukes of Bourbon, Queen Anne of Brittany and Kings Charles VIII and Louis XII. After Matthew’s death, childless, the castle passed to his cousin, the Duchess of Bourbon Suzanne de Bourbon, who later sold it in 1519 through her mother Anne of France, Jean II of Saint Chamond. The latter’s son, Claude (died 1521), heir to the castle, married Jeanne de Joyeuse, heiress of the land of Boutheon.
In 1561 Guillaume de Gadagne (1534-1601), Seneschal of Lyon from a family of great Lyon merchants of Florentine origin, bought the Château de Boutheon, on 189 hectares of land, 82 hectares of arable land from Gaspard de Montmorin-Saint-Jerem, son of Jeanne de Joyeuse, born from his second marriage, 12 February 1526, with François de Montmorin-Saint-Jerem. Guillaume de Gadagne has made this castle his residence, where he and his wife Jeanne of Sunny invite writers and artists who have dedicated their work to him. Guillaume is even called “Monsieur Bothéon”.
On May 19, 1704, Marquis Alphonse Gabriel-Sassenage married at Boutheon Castle with Catherine Ferdinande La Baume Hostun, daughter of Marshal Camille Hostun, Duke of Hostun and Count of Tallard.
At the end of the eighteenth century, the Count of Pons, a descendant and heir of Gadagne Hostun, sold the castle and the 642 hectares that surrounded it at that time to Claude Antoine of Praire Neysieux, a tape maker. A victim of the siege of Lyon, he was shot dead in 1793 and the castle was sold in 1803 to Grailhe, the future Baron of Montaima, while the land, forests and waters are distributed to various owners.
In 1878, Claude Coignet (1820-1911) (House of Gérentet and Coignet), bought the castle and refurbished the north wing (stairs, mosaic floors, wood paneling, decorated beams, etc.) Some elements came from other castles, such as the bust of Marc Aurelius (returned from the Château de la Bastie) or the monumental fireplace in the living room from the collection of the Château Évêques-du-Puy in Monistrol-sur-Loire
Boutheon Castle and World War II
In 1938, the Coignet-Calemard-Allimant family resells the land for the civil hospice of Saint-Étienne, who wanted to make a psychiatric hospital. But World War II will change the decision. In 1940, the refugees of Lorraine will be accommodated in the Castle.
In 1961, the castle becomes the property of Paul Grousset, industrialist of Saint-Just-sur-Loire.
In 1995, Boutheon Castle was purchased by the city of Andreziers, which restores its purpose and opens it to the public from 2006-2007. Now the castle has been restored, and thematic exhibitions are held on its squares.
Over the centuries, the owners expanded the buildings and completed them in accordance with the fashion of the time: a medieval fortress, a pleasure palace, a Renaissance residence, bourgeois apartments, a cultural and tourist site.
Boutheon castle architecture
Currently, the castle itself consists of two large parallel buildings, overlooking a large courtyard.
The northern building has an elongated shape and ends with two high towers. Built at the end of the fifteenth century by Matthieu de Bourbon and was significantly modified in the nineteenth century in the Neo-Gothic style by Claude Coignet.
The southern building also has an elongated shape and ends on one side with a warm house, and on the other side with a home tower. This building looks newer than the North Side building, especially due to the roof and plaster covering the mechanisms of the Loire. This new aspect of the south wing dates from the sixteenth century, when Guillaume de Gadagne was the owner. In fact, this is the oldest building of the castle, as it contains the remains of a medieval dungeon, currently completely invisible from the outside.
In the lower courtyard of the castle (south side), auxiliary rooms are composed with places (harness, forging, sheds, carts, carriages, harvester, still) and technical space (storage boxes, boiler, etc.).
In 2004 there was restoration work at Boutheon Castle under the stone bridge leading to the main courtyard, a caponier was restored, probably built in the fifteenth century to protect the castle. The visible part of the fortified bridge was added later. Nicholas Faucherre, a specialist in medieval architecture, drew up a detailed plan for the caponier.