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| the classical frontage to the Sainte Chapelle on a mid-summer's evening |
The next village north of Richelieu, as the little river Mable runs towards the broad Vienne, is called Champigny-sur-Veude, although the little river has by now changed its name to the river Veude. The King's brother Gaston d'Orléans formerly owned a major castle here, most of which was finally demolished after the cardinal duc had acquired the property from the Bourbons as he established his huge ducal domaine. The Pope himself intervened to protect a fragment, the as-called Sainte Chapelle. This building is one of the few that were constructed as reflections of the famous mediaeval Sainte Chapelle in the centre of Paris. While the Champigny chapel, with its famous stained glass windows telling the history of Saint Louis for the family of the Bourbon-Montpensier, is in a late gothic manner, the family constructed this rather strict Roman porch modelled as a triumphal arch.
A fine crash of Gothic and Neo-classical taste.
All evidence of the castle itself, with the exception of the 'commons', has since disappeared.
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| a remnant of the castle walls |
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| a concert within the chapelle showing the stained glass windows |
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| the vaulting and support columns |
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| some of the stained glass windows |
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