May 9 - Lourmarin

Wednesday - Castle Day!

Today we venture off to the small village of Lourmarin which boasts being one of the most beautiful villages in France, and it has a well-kept castle to boot. The oldest part of the castle was built in the 15th century by Foulques d'Agoult, on the ruins of a 12th century fortress belonging to the Baux family....remember the Baux family? Les Baux

The gargoyles on the tower walls are quite unique, they are goats, and dogs...this one is a goat.

This Italian style loggia houses a library containing 28,000 rare books, which are available for review, with an appointment.

 The view of the 3 church steeples of Lourmarin, the one in the foreground is a protestant church.  The fact that it is still standing is quite interesting as Lourmarin was very involved in the religious wars that started in 1545, and ended when Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which essentially said, stop killing all the protestants, their religion is now allowed in France. (later revoked by Louis XIV in 1685)

 The ladies' chamber

 The large fireplace in the Sallestre, the hall where the lords of the castle would receive guests.  The fireplace has some interesting aspects, Corinthian columns on the bottom and stylized columns on the top in the shape of amphorae with heads of Aztec or other new-world residents (the new world was only newly discovered when the fireplace was built)

The grand spiral staircase, which is a double helix (the DNA staircase).  Each step is a single block of stone that forms the a portion of the double spiral central pillar, the stair itself, and fits into the tower wall.

 

At the top of the grand staircase is a cupola, supported by a slender column.

 A view of the inner courtyard, with the Loggia, and the Hexagonal tower.

 In the field across from the castle you will find a herd (or drove, or pace) of donkeys.  The one has some thing going wrong on his donkey (or the other word for donkey)

 The town of Lourmarin

 Ivy, are you there, open the window and come out for lunch.

 The opening in the roof is on purpose, it is actually a second floor terrace.

 This is fountain was built to commemorate what happens if you drink too much in Lourmarin.