Château de Poncé (Sarthe)

The Château de Poncé is a remarkable architectural ensemble classified as a Historic Monument since 1924 and a Remarkable Garden. Very beautiful French gardens surround the château with charmilles, a labyrinth, a terrace with lime trees, and a small intimate garden. The striking Caroline Terrace is a precursor of the troubadour Gothic style, very fashionable among the Romantics. This building is often compared with the work of Prosper Mérimée and more generally with the rediscovery of the Middle Ages whose fashion will have considerable repercussions in painting (Ingres, Delacroix), in literature (Ivanhoe by Walter Scott (1819) and Notre -Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo in 1831) and in music. The château is particularly famous for its Renaissance coffered staircase from 1542, for its labyrinth and its gardens, including the Caroline Terrace and its astonishing and original decor, like that of an opera house or theater.

the Caroline terrasse, an architectural “folie” built on three levels in 1830 against a porous limestone cliff.  The folly’s central section collapsed in the 1980s and its restoration is urgent to prevent the collapse of the entire edifice, which could put the château below it in danger.

$15,000

New York Chapter

2022