Châteauroux is a French commune, prefecture of the Indre
department in the Center-Val de Loire region. In the 2015 census,
the town had 43,732 inhabitants. In 2015, the agglomeration
community of Châteauroux, which became Châteauroux Métropole on
January 1, 2015, had 70,445 inhabitants and the urban area of
Châteauroux had 93,202 inhabitants, making it the 85th in France. It
is the smallest urban area for a prefecture of a department in the
Center-Val de Loire region. It is the first town in the department
of Indre, and the fifth in the Center region, behind Tours, the
regional capital of Orleans, Bourges and Blois but ahead of
Chartres.
The city is particularly known for its football
club, La Berrichonne de Châteauroux.
260 kilometers south of Paris, Châteauroux is
located in the heart of three natural regions: Champagne
Berrichonne, dominated by large cereal farms, Brenne, land of a
Thousand Ponds and Boischaut, a bocage devoted to breeding.
The city enjoys a privileged setting with 450 ha of green space, an
average of 52 m2 per inhabitant. A remarkable natural and cultural
environment that provides a living environment conducive to the
development of the inhabitants and businesses of Castelroussines.
Birth of Château Raoul in 1112. The town of
Châteauroux has been preceded in history by that of Déols. The
Gallo-Roman presence is attested by sculpted stones, ceramic coins,
urns. Around 937, Lord Raoul le Large abandoned his palace in Déols,
due to insecurity, or to endow the abbey founded in 917. He had a
fortress built on a hill on the left bank of the Indre. From 1112,
this castle was named “castle Raoul”, because of the frequent first
name among the lords of Déols. The feudal period saw the birth in
the shelter of this fortified site a village of artisans and
traders.
At the end of the 13th century, the castle was one
of the stakes in the struggle between the King of France and the
King of England. The last lord named Deols died in 1176 on his
return from the crusade. The "principality" of Deols, which
stretched from Cher to Gartempe, was stranded to a five-year-old
girl, Denise, who was taken to England. In 1188, Philippe Auguste
was able to seize the Raoul castle by surprise, and it was not until
1200 that a treaty recognized the king's suzerainty over the land of
Deols. Denise and her husband made a solemn entry into their castle.
Creation of the county of Châteauroux in 1498
The Hundred
Years' War brought insecurity. In 1356, the Black Prince, son of the
King of England, not having been able to take the Raoul castle,
burned the city. Looting took place in 1374. The city had to be
fortified, which was authorized by the king in 1447. Raoul castle
was rebuilt at this time. In 1498, the barony of Châteauroux became
a county. But in 1503 came the death of André III de Chauvigny and
the succession led in 1519 to the attribution of Château Raoul to
the Maison de Maillé, and of the Château du Parc to that of Aumont.
Disputes between the heirs did not end until 1612 when Henri de
Bourbon, Prince of Condé, bought the two lots. He obtained in 1627
that the lordship be duchy-peerage. His son, the Grand Condé, paid
little attention to his heritage, except to send his wife there
under house arrest for twenty-four years. Louis XV acquired the
duchy in 1737 and donated it in 1743 to the Marquise de Tournelle.
Madame de Chateauroux died the following year without being able to
make her solemn entry into her town. The royal administration was
beneficial for Châteauroux with the creation, in 1751, of the Cloth
Factory (Balsan) and the new route of the Paris - Toulouse road.
Walks were created (current Gambetta and La Fayette places).
Beautiful homes were built.
Châteauroux becomes the capital
of the department
The Revolution made Chateauroux, which then had
8,000 inhabitants, the capital of the department. At the beginning
of the last century, the resumption of the sheet factory and the
creation of workshops for military crews provided work for a working
and military population. In 1847, the railway arrived, and, with it,
a new development of the city. In 1851, the city had 15,921
inhabitants. It has razed its walls, its doors and even the keep of
the castle and has, within the limits of its grant, a vast belt of
boulevards. It is still a long way from occupying all this space and
the neoclassical town hall of 1821, contemplating the Châteauroux of
the time, now turns its back on its city.
The year 1856 was
decisive for two reasons. Châteauroux then inaugurated industrial
production units. A deputy from Indre, Count Eugène de Bryas,
obtained the opening in Châteauroux of cigar workshops which
employed 800 people the following year. In 1872, the population
exceeded 18,000 inhabitants. Built from 1858 to 1863, La Manufacture
des Tabacs in 1873 had 70 managers, 82 workers and… 1,580 workers.
The Manufacture des Tabacs completed in 1863, the two breweries, the
two foundries, and the garment workshops already made Châteauroux an
industrial city.
Un industriel de Lodève, Pierre Balsan, rachète la Manufacture du
Parc et crée un ensemble parmi les plus importants - six hectares
d'usine - et les plus modernes du pays. Renouvelant une industrie du
drap aux fondations médiévales, il dote Châteauroux de son deuxième
géant économique et emploie huit cents ouvriers en 1872. Sur une
population de vingt-cinq mille habitants, trois mille sont employées
en 1900 par le comte Eugène de Bryas et mille deux cents le sont par
Pierre Balsan (chiffres de 1910).
Les deux dernières guerres
ont précipité le développement de la cité. Une usine d’aviation
installée en 1936 à Déols et une importante base américaine à la
Martinerie, créée entre 1951 et 1967, ont entraîné la construction
de cités, de résidences et de maisons individuelles. Aujourd’hui, la
création de nouveaux quartiers et de zones de loisirs, la
restructuration de la ville, le fleurissement confèrent à
Châteauroux son caractère agréable et digne d'une ville de
Préfecture.
Chateau Raoul
Château Raoul is located on Place de la
Victoire-et-des-Alliés and rue du Château-Raoul, in Châteauroux, in
the Indre department. It dates from the tenth century, and has
undergone many alterations and renovations, the last one at the end
of 2011. The castle is currently part of the prefect's private
residence and is not open to the public. The facade and the roof
have been listed as historical monuments since 1927.
Bertrand Museum
The Bertrand Museum is a public museum of fine
arts, history and archeology located in Châteauroux, in the
department of Indre, France. It is located in the former private
mansion of Henri-Gatien Bertrand, general of the First Empire, a
building built in the second half of the 18th century and listed as
a historical monument.
Couvent des Cordeliers - a former
13th-century Franciscan convent, it now houses part of the School of
Fine Arts and contemporary art exhibitions. Located in the historic
part of the city and overlooking the Indre valley, it is a pleasant
place to walk.
Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions
(located in the heart of Balsan Park) - brings together collections
based on the theme of Berry culture, as well as rural life in Berry.
Photographs, engravings, headdresses, objects of all kinds, bring
back the life of the peasants of yesteryear, in the heart of this
province of France.
Saint-Martial Church (located a stone's
throw from the Bertrand Museum) - Saint-Martial Church is a
curiosity in the town of Châteauroux that is worth a detour.
Depending on the parish of Saint-Denis, it was built in the 12th
century. It is a single nave of Romanesque origin covered with a
wooden cradle, lit by trefoil bays open in an arcature of the flat
apse. Its Renaissance-style bell tower, built by a bourgeois from
Châteauroux, Pierre Vurignon, dates from the last years of the 15th
century. This church hides within its walls lithographs discovered
during repair work on the altar in 1960. Located to the left of the
altar, these lithographs include Latin inscriptions carved in Roman
characters. To this architecture is added an artistic treasure
dating from the fifteenth century with rarities such as painted
wooden statues, representing Saint-Denis, Saint-Thomas, the Virgin,
Jesus ... In the 18th century, this church housed the Brotherhood of
Saint -Blaise who grouped "les Tixiers" in cloth. Formerly, the
small square of the Saint-Martial church traditionally hosted the
fires of Saint-Jean.
Saint-André Church - in 1876, while
the Berrichons are in mourning (George Sand has just died in
Nohant), the town of Châteauroux sees the consecration of the
Saint-André Church, the culmination of long years of efforts and
work interruptions. Indeed, the idea of the building dates back to
the year 1844 when Mr. Grillon, then mayor of the City, decided to
rebuild the Saint-André church destroyed at the end of the
seventeenth century. It is in 1845, after a vote of the Municipal
Council, that the works begin. After twenty years of interruption,
work resumed in 1869 with a new project by the departmental
architect of Indre, Alfred Dauvergne. But, the war of 1870 once
again stopped the work of the Saint-André church. Thus, it was only
in 1876 that the building showed its final face at Castelroussins.
Despite reduced means, the Saint-André church presents a certain
artistic interest. Drawings by Isidore Meyer complement the plans of
architect Dauvergne and local industry has benefited from this
construction. Indeed, the whole interior is built in local granite
for the foundations and in freestone from Ambrault quarries for the
works in elevation. The two towers reach sixty meters in height. The
total length of the building is 87 meters and can hold 3,000 people.
From an architectural point of view, the main church of Saint-André
is Gothic in style.
Notre-Dame Church - it was built on
the ditch surrounding the old Château-Raoul in 1882. Despite its
disadvantageous location (it was built on low ground), this building
retains all its charm with its inspired style of the Romanesque
church of Issoire and its remarkable architectural details. Indeed,
capitals rise successively and those inside each represent a
different scene from holy writing (they were executed by M.
Girault-Dupin, sculptor in Châteauroux). Notre-Dame Church also has
a choir with marble columns and a dome surmounted by a gilded bronze
virgin.
Founded by the monks of Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys in 1127.
Unfortunately, this building was demolished and abandoned. But in
the 15th century an agglomeration was created around a modest
church, which gave birth to the Saint-Christophe district. A few
remains of the old Benedictine abbey of Saint-Gildas can be found
near the Colombier in the rue de la Fuie or in the rue des Jeux
Saint-Christophe. Each year, the district hosts traditional events
such as the Fête des Vignerons (Saint-Vincent) and the automobile
pilgrimage created by Abbé Paviot (legendary figure of the
district). He had a monumental statue of Saint Christopher sculpted
on the church square and placed it above the portal at the turn of
the century. His successors maintain the automobile pilgrimage but
have moved it to the Saint-Gildas mall.
Ville fleurie -
the city of Castelroussine is one of the most beautiful flower towns
in France (Distinction: "Quatre fleurs").
Prairie
Saint-Gildas (close to the city center) - offers a privileged
natural site where you can see herons, bats and nutria.
Equinoxe - media library and national stage, with a program that is
both rich and varied (theater, contemporary dance, but also jazz,
song, readings) resulting from the important cultural policy
dedicated to the only major stage in the city. Equinoxe also hosts
the clown festival: "The Thaw Barrier" in January.
Mach'36 - the Châteauroux performance hall which opened its doors at
the end of 2007.