Castle of Simiane, Valréas

Entry with the Vaucluse Provence Pass, from May 15, 2019

Historical

The Hôtel de Simiane is built on the remains of an old house that was built by the Montauban family in the 13th century. In the fourteenth century, Hugues Aymeric had the two buildings still visible along the Rue de l'Hôtel de Ville. The main part of the current building was built in 1639-16 by the Cavaillonnais entrepreneur Bernard Moureau on the plans of the Avignon architect François Royer de la Valfenière for Louis de Simiane (we owe this architect Avignon many buildings in the Comtat, notably the bishopric of Carpentras). It was not until about 1780 that the symmetry of the composition was completed with the replacement of an old building by the south wing (Avignonnais architect Franque who also realized the plans of the bishopric of Viviers).

The castle of Simiane shelters in 1823 the college and the Justice of Peace. It was not until 1843, by order of King Louis Philippe that the city of Valréas was authorized to buy said Simiane Hotel, which then becomes the Valréas Town Hall and the post office. In 1913, the Château de Simiane is classified as a historical monument.

The building today consists of two distinct parts.

To the west, the oblique wing of the fourteenth century comprises two buildings aligned, the largest of which houses a room per floor. On the ground floor is the lower room, on the first floor, the so-called Saint-Cristou room, where broken windows (only one walled on the south façade) illuminate it. Finally, the top floor houses the Scharff Room, in which originally the four-sided roof of this building, supported by a set of complex diaphragm arches dating back to the 14th century, covered this room. From there, a stolen passage, carried by the great arc that spans the street of the Hotel de Ville, led to missing buildings (hayloft, stables).

In the center, the main body of the Hotel occupies the entire width of the ground. Its two wings in return, symmetrical, frame the main courtyard. It has a portico of Doric order imitating the Colosseum, reminder of the years of training in Rome of the architect. The windows of the facades were also at that time called "the Roman". The central staircase, crowned by a belvedere, leads to the gallery of the 1st and 2nd floor. It is a parallel flight of stairs as seen from the previous century. On the ground floor, the portico opens to the south the lower room of the medieval wing and north on a staircase added to the nineteenth century that separates the kitchen and its annexes, vaulted edges, dependencies of the wing in back (servants' room, bakery, salt, expense).

Library

We can notice the old doors. This room contains a very large number of ancient volumes as well as some incunabula. The doors of the 18th century cupboards come from the old pharmacy of the hospital, restored in 1930.