Stage town for the 5th time
Prefecture of Indre (36)
Population: 43,440 (Castelroussins, Castelroussines) and 73,700 in the 14 communes of the urban community.
Personalities: Henri-Gatien Bertrand (Empire general), Gérard Depardieu (actor), Michel Denisot (journalist), Christine Angot (writer), Jeannette Bougrab (lawyer, politician), Mark Cavendish (three-time stage winner)
Specialities: pâté berrichon, potato galette, wines from Reuilly, Valençay and Châteaumeillant, goat's cheeses from Valençay & Pouligny
Sport: La Berrichonne de Châteauroux (football, league 2).
Culture: DARC course-festival dedicated to dance and singing (August), Les Lisztomanias festival based on the musical works of Franz Liszt (October).
Labels: member of the "Imperial Cities" network.
Website: www.chateauroux-metropole.fr / www.chateauroux-tourisme.com / www.indre.fr / www.indreberry.fr / www.berryprovince.com
CHÂTEAUROUX AND CYCLING
Rumour has it that Châteauroux may rename part of the Avenue de la Châtre after Mark Cavendish. It has to be said that the Mannish sprinter amply deserved to be made an honorary citizen of the town after his three stage wins on this thoroughfare in 2008, 2011 and 2021. In 2008, the man from Man opened his list of victories in the Tour de France, which was soon to include 34 more and a record snatched from Eddy Merckx. That day, while Nicolas Vogondy was caught on the line, the Cav, led by the Columbia train, dominated Oscar Freire and Erik Zabel in the sprint. Not bad for a debut. His last victory in town, which marked his return to the front of the stage, was just as exceptional. This is how he describes it in his book Tour de Force: "I put my hands on my helmet, as I had done in 2008 and 2011. I really wanted to use that first win as a reference point for my return to the Tour. I don't think it's anecdotal at all to win like that in the same place thirteen years apart, in fact it's quite extraordinary, and I wanted to mark the occasion. It was a decision I made in the seconds I crossed the line. Even if no Tour de France victory means more to me than any other, Châteauroux will still remain a special place, because I won my first stage there. Cipo (Mario Cipollini) won the only other stage of the Tour contested in Châteauroux, so this town has a real sprinter's pedigree. I don't know if you can really compare it with the sprint finishes on the Champs-Élysées or in Bordeaux, but in my eyes it's a prestigious victory.” Among the riders from Châteauroux, Marcel Dussault, winner of three stages in the Tour de France and Yellow Jersey holder in 1949, Kévin Sireau, former world champion and Olympic team sprint silver-medallist, and Michel Dejouhannet, winner of a stage in the 1959 Tour de France, stand out.
SIGHTS
Château Raoul
Construction: 10th to 19th centuries.
Style: Renaissance and neo-Gothic.
History and characteristics: located in Place de la Victoire-et-des-Alliés and Rue du Château-Raoul, the château of the same name dates back to the 10th century. Its current appearance, in the style of a seigneurial mansion with several towers, dates back to 1450. After the Revolution, several administrators lived there, including Henri Bertrand, father of the future general Henri-Gatien Bertrand, and farmer-general Charles Louis Dupin de Francueil, grandfather of George Sand. Department architect Alfred Dauvergne embellished the building in a neo-Gothic style in 1879.
Current use: owned by the Departmental Council, the château was restored in 2012.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1927.
Parc Balsan castle and cloth mill
Construction: 16th century for the château, 18th to 19th century for the factory.
Style: Renaissance and neo-Gothic.
History: in the 16th century, the last Lord of Déols died without a male heir. The seigneury of Châteauroux was then divided between two branches of the family. The La Tour-Landry family inherited Château Raoul. The D'Aumonts decided to build their own castle on the banks of the Indre. What is now known as Château Tour was built in the heart of what became known as Parc Balsan in the 19th century. Architect Alfred Dauvergne (1824-1885) was responsible for building the 60,000 m² Balsan factory, as well as the neo-Gothic Château Balsan in its current form, and for the overall development of the park. Since 1988, the park has been owned by the town, which carried out a major restoration project in 2016.
Characteristicss: The cloth mill is one of the most characteristic examples of the evolution from traditional mill to modern factory. It is unusual in that it has preserved, side by side on the same block, the architectural evidence of its transformation. In 1751, a draper from Lodève set up a factory in the former medieval castle to make troop sheets. Its purchase in 1856 by Pierre Balsan, from Lodève, changed the face of the business. Between 1860 and 1867, he had a new six-hectare factory built to the west of the original one, where he successfully continued the traditional production of linen for troops. For many years, the factory was one of the largest and most modern in France. It had a major influence on the urban development of the western part of town, creating individual houses for the workers, schools and streets with an orthogonal layout to link these facilities and housing to the factory.
Listed as: historical monument in 1996.
Cordeliers Convent
Construction: 13th century.
Style: Franciscan.
History and characteristics: this former 13th-century convent was built according to the typical plan of houses belonging to the Franciscan order: a large church with angled buildings adjoining it, and a wing parallel to the nave closing off the cloister courtyard. The church is a "preaching hall", with a poly-lobed arched doorway to the west. Five large arcades overlook the cloister. The Cordeliers exerted a considerable influence in the town and surrounding area, due primarily to their way of life, their extreme deprivation, their spiritual vocation and their educational role. After the French Revolution, the convent gradually became a prison, then a police station. The town undertook the restoration of the entire site in 1975, which was completed in 1978.
Current use: the convent now houses contemporary art exhibitions and the international contemporary ceramics biennial (every odd-numbered summer).
Listed as: historical monument in 1932.
Bertrand Museum
Construction: 18th century.
History and characteristics: once the residence of General Bertrand, one of Napoleon's most loyal supporters, this handsome 18th-century town house is now a museum, with each of its 26 rooms full of surprises: the aviary brought back from St Helena, the plaster original of Claudel's Sakuntala, a cabinet of curiosities and Egyptology, Empire collections, Flemish and Dutch paintings, Gallo-Roman and medieval works, etc. The museum also holds two temporary exhibitions a year.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1944.
U.S. Museum
History: From 1951 to 1967, Castelroussins lived the American way. The Châteauroux c'était l'Amérique (Châteauroux was America) association brings back to life this wonderful era of dollars, big cars, jazz, hot dogs and more. Objects, photos and films bear witness to these seventeen flourishing years for the people of Châteauroux. The U.S Museum also welcomes Americans who spent their youth in Châteauroux.
Déols Abbey
Construction: 10th century.
History: Notre-Dame de Déols Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey, of which only a few remains survived. It was founded on 2 September 917 by Ebbes the Noble, Lord of Déols, who was inspired by the founding of Cluny Abbey. The abbey, one of the largest in France, was placed under the direct authority of the Pope. It reached its prime in the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. It did not recover from the Wars of Religion, and the abbey buildings became a quarry from which Prince Henri II de Condé, and subsequently other administrations, drew building materials.
Listed as: the bell tower, the south wall of the nave and the part of the north wall still visible were listed as Historic Monuments in 1862.
