Château de la Roche Courbon is a large château, developed from an earlier castle, in the Charente-Maritime département of France. A castle was built around 1475 by Jehan de Latour, on site which had been inhabited since prehistoric times. In the 17th century, the Courbon family, which had occupied the castle for two centuries, transformed it into a more comfortable residence. More alterations were made in the 18th century, but it was eventually sold in 1817 and then abandoned. It was purchased in 1920 by Paul Chénereau, who restored the château and its gardens. The château is still owned and inhabited by his descendants.
Built in the 15th century, upon a rocky outcrop in the midst of marshland, the original castle was transformed into an elegant residence by Jean-Louis de Courbon, during the 17th century. As the marquis would not flee during the French Revolution, the château was not sold. His daughter Charlotte married an aide de camp of Napoleon. Because upkeep was so expensive, however, the château became abandoned during the following hundred years.
The interior of the château contains decor from the 17th century, in particular a bathroom covered with painted wood panels and sculptures from 1662.
The château has a jardin à la française, redone in 1936–1939, featuring a terrace with an Italian gallery, a monumental stairway, a parterre with four compartments and a fountain, topiary, and statues. The property is entered via the Porte des Lions, an imposing 17th century edifice. Inside the moat is the keep, an ancient machicolated tower.
The gardens include orchard, flower garden, geometrical flower beds and lawns surrounding a small lake ('mirror pool'). The River Bruant flows through the gardens, feeding the water features. Beyond that, an ornamental staircase leads to higher ground, on the far side of the river. The gardens were laid out on marshes, and in addition to drainage improvements it was necessary to support part of them on deep piles driven through the marshland to the sandstone bedrock; these required considerable and very costly attention in the 1930s refurbishment and again in the 1990s.
In the grounds are some Stone Age cave dwellings, at the base of sandstone cliffs, in woodland close by the river Bruant. Prehistoric finds from the site are housed in the keep museum.
References:The ancient Argos Theater was built in 320 BC. and is located in Argos, Greece against Larissa Hill. Nearby from this site is Agora, Roman Odeon, and the Baths of Argos. The theater is one of the largest architectural developments in Greece and was renovated in ca 120 AD.
The Hellenistic theater at Argos is cut into the hillside of the Larisa, with 90 steps up a steep incline, forming a narrow rectilinear cavea. Among the largest theaters in Greece, it held about 20,000 spectators and is divided by two landings into three horizontal sections. Staircases further divide the cavea into four cunei, corresponding to the tribes of Argos A high wall was erected to prevent unauthorized access into the theatron and may have helped the acoustics, but it is said the sound quality is still very good today.
Around 120 CE, both theaters were renovated in the Roman style.