Château de Bizy, Vernon, France - SpottingHistory.com

Château de Bizy was built first in 1675 by Michel-André Jubert de Bouville and reconstructed in 1740 by Coutant d'Ivry. He redesigned the castle in a classical style inspired by Versailles. Bizy has had notable owners, including Louis XV, the Duke of Penthièvre and Louis-Philippe. In the castle, the rooms are decorated with beautiful Regency woodwork and house mementoes from the Bonaparte family, as well as from marshals Suchet, Masséna and Davout. The visitor should not miss the Gobelin tapestries in extraordinary colours and a marquetry pedestal table presented by Napoleon I. The English style park, planted with large trees several centuries old, offers opportunities for lovely strolls around fountains, ponds and statues from the 18th century.

References:

Normandy Tourism

User Reviews

Alison Pharaoh (2 years ago)
This is a don't miss! Stunning chateau with beautifully decorated rooms oozing Napoleonic and revolutionary history. There's an orangery, stables, fountains, statues, artworks and stunning gardens. And when we were there, hardly anyone else to share it with. If you're going to Giverny, call in on the way. The family still live here so it's an absolute privilege to have visited. C'est tres magnifique!

Justin Rahardjo (2 years ago)
Our guide was great! She explained the ownership of the Chateau quite thoroughly and in a way that is understandable to those who don't really know too much about French history. It's a beautiful place and the gardens are so peaceful since there's not many people around.

smellgone (2 years ago)
Chateau in good order, but not much of it open for inspection/tour. Tour only in French with limited printed notes in English

Alastair Dunning (2 years ago)
A massive green park, laden with fountains and huge trees. It is blissfully deserted in comparison to the evil scrum of tourists crawling around the nearby Claude Monet gardens. (The photo can be used with attribution ie it is CC-by)

Riad Joseph (2 years ago)
Huge garden, big on history, owners still there, ask for the guided tour it’s well worth it. Hope you encounter the dancers dressed up and if you play the piano you can try it, sounds amazing.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Dan Lundberg

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Hagios Demetrios

The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios, is the main sanctuary dedicated to Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki. It is part of the site Palaeochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1988.

The first church on the spot was constructed in the early 4th century AD, replacing a Roman bath. A century later, a prefect named Leontios replaced the small oratory with a larger, three-aisled basilica. Repeatedly gutted by fires, the church eventually was reconstructed as a five-aisled basilica in 629–634. This was the surviving form of the church much as it is today. The most important shrine in the city, it was probably larger than the local cathedral. The historic location of the latter is now unknown.

The church had an unusual shrine called the ciborium, a hexagonal, roofed structure at one side of the nave. It was made of or covered with silver. The structure had doors and inside was a couch or bed. Unusually, it did not hold any physical relics of the saint. The ciborium seems to have been a symbolic tomb. It was rebuilt at least once.

The basilica is famous for six extant mosaic panels, dated to the period between the latest reconstruction and the inauguration of the Byzantine Iconoclasm in 730. These mosaics depict St. Demetrius with officials responsible for the restoration of the church (called the founders, ktetors) and with children. An inscription below one of the images glorifies heaven for saving the people of Thessalonica from a pagan Slavic raid in 615.

Thessaloniki became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1430. About 60 years later, during the reign of Bayezid II, the church was converted into a mosque, known as the Kasımiye Camii after the local Ottoman mayor, Cezeri Kasım Pasha. The symbolic tomb however was kept open for Christian veneration. Other magnificent mosaics, recorded as covering the church interior, were lost either during the four centuries when it functioned as a mosque (1493–1912) or in the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 that destroyed much of the city. It also destroyed the roof and upper walls of the church. Black-and-white photographs and good watercolour versions give an idea of the early Byzantine craftsmanship lost during the fire.

Following the Great Fire of 1917, it took decades to restore the church. Tombstones from the city"s Jewish cemetery - destroyed by the Greek and Nazi German authorities - were used as building materials in these restoration efforts in the 1940s. Archeological excavations conducted in the 1930s and 1940s revealed interesting artifacts that may be seen in a museum situated inside the church"s crypt. The excavations also uncovered the ruins of a Roman bath, where St. Demetrius was said to have been held prisoner and executed. A Roman well was also discovered. Scholars believe this is where soldiers dropped the body of St. Demetrius after his execution. After restoration, the church was reconsecrated in 1949.

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