When restructuring works have been completed, the Royal Fortress of Chinon will offer visitors a new itinerary including a host of interactive terminals.

Implementation of the project was entrusted to the scenographer Frédéric Casanova and to Michel Kouklia (Ubiscène). A scientific committee was set up to oversee the project and keep in constant dialogue with the museographer and the scenographer (Bruno Dufay, head archaeologist at the departmental archaeology office, Julie Pellegrin, heritage curator and head of the departmental monuments and museums office, and Marie-Eve Scheffer, archaeologist and manager of the Fortress of Chinon).

The project comprises the fitting out of height rooms in the royal lodgings as well as of an exterior visit itinerary.

The project is seeking in general to create a contemporary reinterpretation of the medieval world. Design and choice of materials must evoke the nomadic and ephemeral character of many medieval courts.

A film-projection system has been set up in the first four rooms, designed to put visitors at the centre of the action.

A series of short silent fiction films (each around 4 minutes long) – true cinematic works of art specially created for the project by artistic director Benjamin Sylvestre (scriptwriter and director) - evokes key events in the fortress’s history.

Artistic commitment is to emotional register rather than to documentary historical reconstruction.

In this context, the contracting owner’s scientific role (through the scientific committee) is of primordial importance in ensuring respect for historical coherence. Film scripts were meticulously worked over by the artistic director in collaboration with the scientific committee. Location research (natural sites and castles) carried out by Benjamin Sylvestre during the winter of 2008 was accompanied and orientated by the Fortress of Chinon’s manager. Shooting took place in September 2009 for delivery in May 2010, with the fortress’s manager enlisted as historical advisor.

The royal lodgings scenographic itinerary

Ground floor

4 rooms / 4 films / 4 key periods in the monument’s history / 4 great names: - Room 1: Foulques IV, known as “le Réchin” (the Rude), - Room 2: Henry II Plantagenet, - Room 3: Philip Augustus - Room 4: Joan of Arc.
		Room 1: Foulques IV

Dynamic, original and innovative projection:
- Room 1, the screens are set on the floor,
- Room 2, a projection corridor made up of vertical screens,
- Room 3, two pairs of screens positioned in the corners of the room,
- Room 4, a single large screen with superimposed smaller screens showing details from the main scene.

“Grands Combles”, first floor

Two rooms devoted to relocation of the Joan of Arc museum formerly housed in the Clock Tower
An evocation of the epic tale and myth of Joan of Arc from Domrémy to the stake, via Chinon itself, through exhibition of a collection of original objets d’art from the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th centuries (bronzes, statues, earthenware, etc.). The rich iconographic collection presents the many different faces attributed to our heroine over the course of the centuries.

Garrets: The museum’s reserve collections (open to visitors)
These are located in two rooms. Rotation of works is necessary to their conservation, which requires space that has been specially adapted to accommodate reserve collections. The rooms will also finally include a research-work area (documentation centre and specialised library).

“Grand Combles”, ground floor

Interpretation of the site and history of the fortress
In the low season, these rooms will be independently accessible from the outside and may be used for educational work with school groups. A room equipped with six multimedia desks will be available to the public to help visitors with in-depth studies. Terminal contents have been compiled by the fortress’s manager, and the homepage menu will be geographical, theme-based and historical.

The last room will present the evolution of the site through archaeological and iconographic collections. Frédéric Casanova refers to it as the museographic interpretation room, focusing on the ups and downs and the image of the fortress over the years – its abandonment, its rediscovery, and its return to glory through archaeological research and restoration. The exit is through the great double door on the ground floor of the “Grands Combles”.

La dernière salle présentera l'évolution du site au travers des collections archéologiques et iconographiques. On peut la qualifier selon Frédéric Casanova de salle d'interprétation muséographique qui insiste sur le destin et les représentations de la forteresse à travers le temps, son abandon, sa redécouverte et sa revalorisation par les travaux d'archéologie et de restauration. La sortie s'effectue par la grande porte à double battant du rez-de-chaussée des grands combles.

Room 7, a set of 6 interactive terminals.

The exterior itinerary

The guide booklet – an interactive visitor’s aid

4 rooms / 4 films / 4 key periods in the monument’s history / 4 great names: - Room 1: Foulques IV, known as “le Réchin” (the Rude), - Room 2: Henry II Plantagenet, - Room 3: Philip Augustus - Room 4: Joan of Arc.
			The guide booklet

Although visitors are entirely free to go where they will, our guidebook will provide them with invaluable help wherever they may wander. Its cover contains an RFID chip enabling activation of sound and interactive terminals. Its position is indicated by a logo also to be found on terminals and furnishing. The chip is pre-programmed in the desired language. Enamelled steel rods are installed in the royal lodgings and in the towers, their purpose being to provide visual references to parts of the guidebook via a colour and thumb-index system. The booklet’s explanatory texts are presented in the most logical order for visiting – from the Saint-Georges fort to the royal lodgings, the Coudray keep, the Tour d’Argenton and the Tour des Chiens.

Lighting up the towers

Four towers – the Tours du Boissy, du Coudray, d’Argenton and des Chiens – towers have been lit up to show off their architecture to the full – a scenographic touch complemented in some cases by sound terminals.

In the grounds: three seating areas with sound messages on tap

Selected themes include Joan of Arc, the Knights Templar and building in the Middle Ages. In Frédéric Casanova’s view, a “sound-seat” area means at least three benches with differentiated sub-themes. Each bench is equipped with an RFID reader and integrated speakers broadcasting to 2 or 3 people simultaneously.

Three augmented reality systems
The term “augmented reality” refers to a fixed image complemented by virtual features. Technically, it is made up of a photograph taken exactly from the display’s position, to which virtual 3-D images are added (characters or architectural features from the past). The first two displays are mounted facing the "Reconnaissance" room and provide a reconstruction of this destroyed section of the royal lodgings. The third display is mounted on the terrace of the Tour d’Argenton, directed towards the medieval hoisting engine with the Vienne in the background.

The new building, designed by architects Hervé Beaudoin and Benoît Engel

The building is the programme’s most visible and most spectacular component – an altogether contemporary structure that now forms the main entrance to the fortress as a whole, and that houses the reception area, exhibition rooms, ticket-office and shop.
Seen from afar, architects Hervé Beaudouin & Benoît Engel’s project appears in perfect harmony with the ancient fortress itself, its contemporary lines only becoming apparent as one draws closer. This double reading of its architecture is the project’s special feature. Seen from the bridge, the new building is purposely very simple – one might even say minimalist – in design, its facade a seeming continuation of the ramparts. With modernity of design and seamless integration into the landscape as its guiding principles, the two-storey building is a perfect addition to the Fort Saint-Georges plateau.
The way it is seen from the Clock Tower is no less important than the view of the site as a whole, which is why the roof, like its facades, is designed as a visual continuation of the plateau and almost entirely covered in greenery.

The ephemeral garder, designed by Tiphaine Hameau

Fort Saint-Georges is an archaeological site destined to be transformed into a garden. The site was excavated between 2003 and 2008, and the ruins that were unearthed were buried once again to ensure their conservation. Little by little, nature has since claimed back the excavated ground, embankments that had been tirelessly sifted through but which all remained contained within the fort’s surrounding walls. A fresh invasion on the part of the vegetable kingdom is reconquering the castle, which is now transforming itself, and providing us with a fine example of biodiversity!

The plant life here is considered as much a part of our local and historical heritage as the archaeological finds themselves! Botanical inventorying has confirmed that a great many medicinal plants have already (re)colonised the site, including swallowwort, fennel, mullein, bennet, elder, vetch and dog rose – all of which grew and were made good use of in medieval times! Tiphaine Hameau comes forward as an outside observer, part gardener, part artist and part botanist. “Take a good look” and “See what is there before you” are his two leitmotivs. He has already taken part in programmes for sprucing up industrial wasteland and/or areas under construction, and has also applied himself to gourmet cuisine workshops and educational projects. He worked as assistant to the botanist artist Liliana Motta from 2002 to 2006, and has been creating in his own right since 2007. He also practises his art of good housekeeping on private property.