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24: Chinon, Ruines du Chateau - by Germain Lavalley for Chemins de Fer de l'Etat
An unusual image by an unusual artist -- a rare nightitme view by Germain Lavalley, to whom I have not seen any other posters attributed. The highest tower of the vast semi-ruined fortified castle of Chinon overlooks the river Vienne near its confluence with the lower Loire, purplish under the starry night sky.
Encompassing an area nearly a quarter mile long and more than two football fields wide, the castle of Chinon sits on the site of a Roman camp. Chinon was the site of persecution of Knights Templar of interest to fans of "The Da Vinci Code"), who were imprisoned in the tower shown in the poster and left some graffiti on its walls that is still there. A century later, it was the site of one of the worst anti-semitic atrocities of the era.
In 1429, Joan of Arc interviewed 300 candidates here for king of France and chose to anoint Charles VII to that title, calling him the Messenger of God.
Southwest of Azay le Rideau, which as we saw was served by Chemins de fer de l'Etat as well as CF Paris-Orleans, Chinon was beyond the bounds of the latter and solely in the domain of Etat.
