Château saint Hubert:
Seminary St. Louis,
Neuvy-sur-Barangeon
A seminary
is a Roman Catholic school where boys from the age of 12 would be educated to become
priests. The château became in 1935 a seminary and Bellot was invited to
rebuild the complex.
Bellot
designs an eight-sided chapel, dedicated to saint Hubertus, and places it
direct in front opposing the château. The cloister connects the chapel with the
surrounding existing buildings. His cloister was demolished in about 2007.
The
seminary closed the doors around the year 1965 and the château with chapel was
for sale. In 2004 family De Nicola became the new owners and they rebuild the
complex into hotel and room for conventions, weddings and more.
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The chapel
has a square floorplan, rising up to an eight-sided dome. The front and rear
end of the chapel are slightly extended. The rear is closed with a round brick
wall, forming the sanctuary. At the front is an open bell-tower, similar to the
one in St. Bathilde Vanves. Under this bell tower is
a porch with three arches facing the château. The windows are rectangular,
filled with multi-angled stained-glass. On the roof is coloured slate in
mosaic.
The dome of
the chapel is made of concrete, the centre part rests on eight concrete columns
rising up from the corners and stretching out to the middle. The ceiling of the
dome is not made of one piece, but is constructed out of multiple layers, each
with his own colour. From the outside-in: Brown, dark green, light green,
terra, light green, light blue and the top-stone is black. These layers, as
seen from the inside, match the idea of a tea cosy, there are no enforced
arches to support the ceiling, it holds itself in place. The walls between the
columns are made of coloured brick.
The main
sanctuary is indicated by a double parabolic arch. Two side-altars have a
parabolic arch each and in the corners of the chapel little altars can be found
under a brick lintel supported by two small columns made of brick.
All the
ceilings covering altars are painted blue.
Above the
front doors is a balcony, without organ. The sacristy is located at the
backside of the chapel and can be reached by doors at both sides of the
sanctuary.
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The communion rail is curved and at
each side is a brick pulpit. In the centre is a path accentuated in the floor,
made of tiles. The dominant colour used here is grey-blue, instead of red. The
sanctuary has tiles too. The seats are not present anymore.
We thank
family De Nicola for their hospitality.