Fincharn Castle, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom

Fincharn Castle was built in 1240 by the Lord of Glassary, but the present ruin must represent a later castle. It is said to have belonged to the MacMartins or to the MacIains.

References:

Historic Environment Scotland

User Reviews

Will Grier (3 years ago)
Nice place. Would look great on the summer

Robert Clelland (3 years ago)
Took my Girlfriend and brother to Rothsay yesterday, Rothsay was quite, we drove everywhere on the island, we even met Willy Nelson lookalike, had a good laugh with him. Made our day out. We bought burgers and homemade soup from burger stand across from Lena Zavaroni's cafe. Very good and Tasty. Fair price for an island. We enjoyed ourselves. Lovely day out. We got the ferry at wymssbay over and on way home we took the short way ferry over, it only takes 5 minutes but the long way home. One thing for sure I/we enjoyed the drive home, heading towards Helensburgh then to Glasgow, we stopped off at Arrochar for something to eat out of the chip shop before moving off again. Dropping of my Girlfriend then my Brother. Then when I got home I had a wee drink before retiring to bed. All in all a fantastic day out.

Caroline Stott (3 years ago)
A great castle with plenty of history. Not very expensive to get into. Well worth a visit.

Jamie Thomson (3 years ago)
Great historical site, cheap to enter and there's a video explaining the history. Most of the castle is open ruins but some of it was restored in the 16th century and is a large dining hall. There's a pit prison you can climb down into and a small shop with a selection of books, clothing and toys. Well worth a visit

Dagmar Belešová (4 years ago)
We didn't get in as the castle is closed for renovations for a few weeks, but it's great from the outside! A proper castle with a moat and bang in he city centre. Make sure to stop by even if you don't have much time - well worth it!

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Saint-Eustache

The Church of St Eustace was built between 1532-1632. St Eustace"s is considered a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture. The church’s reputation was strong enough of the time for it to be chosen as the location for a young Louis XIV to receive communion. Mozart also chose the sanctuary as the location for his mother’s funeral. Among those baptised here as children were Richelieu, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, future Madame de Pompadour and Molière, who was also married here in the 17th century. The last rites for Anne of Austria, Turenne and Mirabeau were pronounced within its walls. Marie de Gournay is buried there.

The origins of Saint Eustache date back to 13th century. The church became a parish church in 1223, thanks to a man named Jean Alais who achieved this by taxing the baskets of fish sold nearby, as granted by King Philip Augustus. To thank such divine generosity, Alais constructed a chapel dedicated to Sainte-Agnès, a Roman martyr. The construction of the current church began in 1532, the work not being finally completed until 1637. The name of the church refers to Saint Eustace, a Roman general of the second century AD who was burned, along with his family, for converting to Christianity, and it is believed that it was the transfer of a relic of Saint Eustache from the Abbey to Saint-Denis to the Church of Saint Eustache which resulted in its naming. Jeanne Baptiste d"Albert de Luynes was baptised here.

According to tourist literature on-site, during the French Revolution the church, like most churches in Paris, was desecrated, looted, and used for a time as a barn. The church was restored after the Revolution had run its course and remains in use today. Several impressive paintings by Rubens remain in the church today. Each summer, organ concerts commemorate the premieres of Berlioz’s Te Deum and Liszt’s Christus here in 1886.

The church is an example of a Gothic structure clothed in Renaissance detail. The church is relatively short in length at 105m, but its interior is 33.45m high to the vaulting. At the main façade, the left tower has been completed in Renaissance style, while the right tower remains a stump. The front and rear aspects provide a remarkable contrast between the comparatively sober classical front and the exuberant rear, which integrates Gothic forms and organization with Classical details. The L"écoute sculpture by Henri de Miller appears outside the church, to the south. A Keith Haring sculpture stands in a chapel of the church.

The Chapel of the Virgin was built in 1640 and restored from 1801 to 1804. It was inaugurated by Pius VII on the 22nd of December, 1804 when he came to Paris for the coronation of Napoleon. The apse chapel, with a ribbed cul-de-four vault, has at its centre a sculpture of the Virgin and Child of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle that the painter Thomas Couture highlighted by three large paintings.

With 8,000 pipes, the organ is reputed to be the largest pipe organ in France, surpassing the organs of Saint Sulpice and Notre Dame de Paris. The organ originally constructed by P.-A. Ducroquet was powerful enough for the premiere of Hector Berlioz" titanic Te Deum to be performed at St-Eustache in 1855.

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