Château de Dieppe

Dieppe, France

Château de Dieppe was founded in 1188 and destroyed in 1195. The site was restored in the 14th century. The castle was largely reconstructed by Charles des Marets in 1433. The castle is composed of a quadrangular enclosure with round flanking towers and a lower court adjacent. The large west tower dates perhaps from the 14th century, and served as the keep. Several architectural styles are represented, and flint and sandstone are used in the buildings. A brick bastion and various other buildings have been added to the original enclosure. The town walls were built around 1360. The walls were extended between 1435 and 1442. Although the town was largely destroyed by an Anglo-Dutch naval bombardment in 1694, the castle survived.

Until 1923, the castle housed the Ruffin barracks. It was bought by the town in 1903 and today is home to the Dieppe museum with its collection of ivories (crucifixes, rosaries, statuettes, fans, snuffboxes, etc.), maritime exhibits and the papers and belongings of Camille Saint-Saëns. The castle offers a panoramic view over the town and the coast.

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Address

Rue de Chastes, Dieppe, France
See all sites in Dieppe

Details

Founded: 1188
Category: Cemeteries, mausoleums and burial places in France
Historical period: Late Capetians (France)

More Information

www.casteland.com
www.musees-haute-normandie.fr
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.1/5 (based on Google user reviews)

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Museum of Fine Arts (53,4 km)
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Abbey of Saint-Georges (54 km)
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User Reviews

Jamie Prince (3 years ago)
Interesting place to go for a walk and explore, I didnt look in the museum but the grounds are very nice, dogs are allowed. Toilets came in handy as im stuck in dieppe living in a very small car for 3 days before I can travel back to the UK :)
Tim Corbett (3 years ago)
Great views and some interesting exhibits. Nothing on the Raid or the Battle at Arques which is a shame but great views across the town
Paula Potter (3 years ago)
A definite visit for Canadians, there is so much Canadian history in Dieppe. Such a beautiful seaside town too. Love it.
Liv Candless (3 years ago)
Very rude lady receptionist who was very suspicious that I was not a student despite showing my student card. Spoke in French to her colleague beside her while preparing our tickets, ignoring us completely. There was very little English explanation in the museum, not tourist friendly at all. Not worth the entry fee (students enter free) although the views of the seafront are worth climbing up the hill for. Don't risk ruining your mood for this museum which has a very subpar collection of art.
Mira Demeter (3 years ago)
The Chateau is a lovely place, it’s very old & historic. The view from there is fantastic! The tickets are around 5 euros small children don’t pay. There’s the bottom part of the castle available, you cannot access towers. It’s like a museum & gallery in one. There’s an Ivory museum too. But gutted as there wasn’t an English guide to read so didn’t actually learn anything about the history of this place. It’s open currently 10-12 & 2-5 and shut otherwise. There’s free toilets on the premises, it has entrances from the bottom & top of the castle. I wish the people working there were a bit more pleasant but as a sightseeing & historical place it’s lovely. Family friendly. Recommended to visit if in Dieppe.
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Quimper Cathedral

From 1239, Raynaud, the Bishop of Quimper, decided on the building of a new chancel destined to replace that of the Romanesque era. He therefore started, in the far west, the construction of a great Gothic cathedral which would inspire cathedral reconstructions in the Ile de France and would in turn become a place of experimentation from where would later appear ideas adopted by the whole of lower Brittany. The date of 1239 marks the Bishop’s decision and does not imply an immediate start to construction. Observation of the pillar profiles, their bases, the canopies, the fitting of the ribbed vaults of the ambulatory or the alignment of the bays leads us to believe, however, that the construction was spread out over time.

The four circular pillars mark the start of the building site, but the four following adopt a lozenge-shaped layout which could indicate a change of project manager. The clumsiness of the vaulted archways of the north ambulatory, the start of the ribbed vaults at the height of the south ambulatory or the choice of the vaults descending in spoke-form from the semi-circle which allows the connection of the axis chapel to the choir – despite the manifest problems of alignment – conveys the hesitancy and diverse influences in the first phase of works which spread out until the start of the 14th century.

At the same time as this facade was built (to which were added the north and south gates) the building of the nave started in the east and would finish by 1460. The nave is made up of six bays with one at the level of the facade towers and flanked by double aisles – one wide and one narrow (split into side chapels) – in an extension of the choir arrangements.

The choir presents four right-hand bays with ambulatory and side chapels. It is extended towards the east of 3-sided chevet which opens onto a semi-circle composed of five chapels and an apsidal chapel of two bays and a flat chevet consecrated to Our Lady.

The three-level elevation with arches, triforium and galleries seems more uniform and expresses anglo-Norman influence in the thickness of the walls (Norman passageway at the gallery level) or the decorative style (heavy mouldings, decorative frieze under the triforium). This building site would have to have been overseen in one shot. Undoubtedly interrupted by the war of Succession (1341-1364) it draws to a close with the building of the lierne vaults (1410) and the fitting of stained-glass windows. Bishop Bertrand de Rosmadec and Duke Jean V, whose coat of arms would decorate these vaults, finished the chancel before starting on the building of the facade and the nave.

Isolated from its environment in the 19th century, the cathedral was – on the contrary – originally very linked to its surroundings. Its site and the orientation of the facade determined traffic flow in the town. Its positioning close to the south walls resulted in particuliarities such as the transfer of the side gates on to the north and south facades of the towers: the southern portal of Saint Catherine served the bishop’s gate and the hospital located on the left bank (the current Préfecture) and the north gate was the baptismal porch – a true parish porch with its benches and alcoves for the Apostles’ statues turned towards the town, completed by an ossuary (1514).

The west porch finds its natural place between the two towers. The entire aesthetic of these three gates springs from the Flamboyant era: trefoil, curly kale, finials, large gables which cut into the mouldings and balustrades. Pinnacles and recesses embellish the buttresses whilst an entire bestiary appears: monsters, dogs, mysterious figures, gargoyles, and with them a whole imaginary world promoting a religious and political programme. Even though most of the saints statues have disappeared an armorial survives which makes the doors of the cathedral one of the most beautiful heraldic pages imaginable: ducal ermine, the Montfort lion, Duchess Jeanne of France’s coat of arms side by side with the arms of the Cornouaille barons with their helmets and crests. One can imagine the impact of this sculpted decor with the colour and gilding which originally completed it.

At the start of the 16th century the construction of the spires was being prepared when building was interrupted, undoubtedly for financial reasons. Small conical roofs were therefore placed on top of the towers. The following centuries were essentially devoted to putting furnishings in place (funeral monuments, altars, statues, organs, pulpit). Note the fire which destroyed the spire of the transept cross in 1620 as well as the ransacking of the cathedral in 1793 when nearly all the furnishings disappeared in a « bonfire of the saints ».

The 19th century would therefore inherit an almost finished but mutilated building and would devote itself to its renovation according to the tastes and theories of the day.

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