The Music Room, known as the Mignard Room

You will then enter the Salon de Musique, which was used for small receptions.
This room is renowned for the pictorial quality of its French ceiling and the frieze attributed to Nicolas Mignard which decorates the top of the walls. A famous painter from Avignon, trained in Italy and a friend of Molière, he is notably known for the decorations he created at the request of Mazarin in several apartments on the first floor of the Tuileries Palace. With his son Pierre, known as Mignard le Jeune, he contributed to the decoration of several rooms of the Castle, in a remarkable state of conservation and which we can still admire today.

The Salon of Gaming, known as the Bernus Salon

We then enter The Salon of Gaming, the first ceremonial room where the Marquis of Thézan-Venasque held court, and which shows traces of frescoes from the 16th to the 18th centuries, uncovered during heritage studies conducted under the aegis of the DRAC (Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles). The beautiful Venasque coat of arms surmounted by a helmet with a plume on a red background, as well as the refined decoration of scrolls in grisaille, give an idea of the care taken at the time to decorate this room. However, the most remarkable element of this room is the mantelpiece by the Provencal sculptor Jacques Bernus (1650 - 1728). The plaster cherubs, now mutilated due to recent vandalism, are seated on the mantel above a trumeau decorated with an oval bas-relief depicting a mythological allegory representing Jupiter and Juno, the whole of a rare elegance and great delicacy.

A "new" Castle in the 17th Century

The Renaissance mansion was no longer sufficient for the position of the Marquis. So Louis de Thézan undertook to double the size of the Castle by building the 17th century wing on the remains of the old ramparts, corresponding not only to the tastes of the time, but also to the luxury and splendor of the family.
Thus, after the wars of religion, the peace having returned to Provence, the castle of Saint-Didier became under his impulse a pleasant and open residence of pleasure.
Mazarin, who was the Pope's Vice-Legate in Avignon before becoming King Louis XIV's Minister, made several visits to the castle. The King himself, leaving his Court in Avignon, honored the castle with a visit in 1660, after which André le Nôtre designed the park in 1665.
It was this setting that Beaumarchais chose in 1784 to write the fifth act of his Marriage of Figaro.
The decorations that everyone could admire at the time are miraculously preserved today and we can still contemplate the splendor in which the beautiful society of that time evolved.

The Ballroom

The ballroom was the object of particular care: it presents a sumptuous decoration which makes it, since the XVIIth century, the masterpiece of the residence.

Its ceiling, of Italian inspiration, is decorated with multiple oculi simulating views of the sky, as well as with an accumulation of motifs, arabesques and palms. All around the room, a frieze attributed to Pierre Mignard Le jeune is embellished with cartouches hosting alternating landscapes of the Papal States and mythological scenes, interspersed with an antique figure in grisaille. This frieze is interrupted by a monumental fireplace by Bernus whose overmantel is surmounted by the coat of arms of Thézan-Venasque framed by two eagles of great vivacity. The central canvas representing Venus and Adonis, painted by Nicolas Mignard, is now kept in the Minneapolis Museum. Deemed too daring, it was replaced in the 19th century by a painting by Auguste Bigand, a painter and portraitist active in Avignon. This canvas, stolen and then found in 2018, has been restored to its original place.

The Grand Salon

Situated in the centre of the wing built in the 17th century, the Grand Salon opens onto a terrace with views as far as Mont Ventoux. 
This is the most luxurious room in the house, but it is also the one that underwent the most changes in the 19th century.
The white ceiling above covers a particularly refined and precious seventeenth-century décor that has been badly damaged; the walls, previously covered in tapestries, are covered in imitation embossed leather and dark wood panelling; as for the floor, the old parquet has been removed and replaced by sandstone tiles, which are easier to maintain.
The old parquet floor has been removed and replaced with sandstone tiles, which are easier to clean. This room was once used as a dining room when the hydrotherapy institute was founded. The sandstone tiles between the Ballroom and the Grand Salon recreate the Venasque cross, the heraldic symbol of the family who built the Renaissance château.
All the Louis XIV, Regency and Louis XV furniture has been carefully chosen to create an atmosphere characteristic of a certain art of living in the 17th and 18th centuries.
It's a great place to gather for long discussions with family and friends. In winter, the crackle of a log fire in the fireplace adds to its charm and natural warmth.

The Salon Louis XIII or the Antechamber

The Salon Louis XIII is the room designed to impress guests, with its French-style ceiling adorned with a rich décor of felted caissons and acanthus and laurel leaves. The walls are covered with embossed leather (from Cordoba or Avignon) in two different designs, made in the early 17th century by Scipio La Gratia. 
This salon played a dual role in the organisation of the rooms in the château: it was both a study and an antechamber, and a waiting room with armchairs, chairs and benches where guests could wait before being received by the master of the house.

The Chambre du Roy and its private chapel

The décor of the Chambre du Roy is particularly meticulous. 
The walls are covered in refined woodwork. Around the room, silk-trimmed frames add warmth to the soft harmony created.
Reaching a height of 5.40 metres, the ceiling is decorated with feint gypseries and features a medallion depicting the Fall of Phaeton, based on a design by Michelangelo. 
The Château de Thézan was equipped with a King's Bedroom as soon as it was built, to accommodate any distinguished guests, including monarchs. The room's subtle atmosphere is enhanced by the large Polish-style bed and furniture in monochrome tones.

The private chapel is an extension of the King's bedroom.

As the first chapel in the château had been converted into a parish church, a new, more private place of worship had to be found within the château walls. When the new flats were built in the 17th century, Louis de Thézan obtained the right to build a private chapel in his château from the papal vice-legate in Avignon.
The sober, delicate décor highlights religious symbols such as the wooden High Altar with its consecrated stone in the centre, the stone holy-water stoup, the 17th and 18th century paintings depicting holy figures and the exceptional 17th century carved boxwood Christ.

The 19th Century Sales

The Thézan-Venasque family kept the Castle until 1814, when, without descendants, it was sold to the Marquis Pelletier de La Garde.
The latter did a great job of maintaining and improving the comfort of the Castle, which hosted numerous receptions.
When the Marquis died in 1849, his son Henri succeeded him. 
It was at this time that the French garden evolved into an english-style park, following the fashion of the "belle-société", and was equipped with a very beautiful Orangery.
In 1862, Henri Pelletier de La Garde, ruined by these works sold his property to Dr Adolphe Masson.

The creation of a thermal center and baths

"It is in 1862 that Doctor Masson founded, in the middle of one of the most picturesque sites of Provence, in the vast and magnificent Castle of Thézan (youngest branch of the family of the counts of Toulouse), near the small village of Saint-Didier, this establishment which, thanks to the concurrence of the most favorable circumstances, was soon placed on the foot of the biggest establishments of the same kind existing in France.
It is in these terms that Dr. Bonamaison relates the installation of his late father-in-law at the castle of Saint-Didier.
It seems that he immediately undertook a major renovation of the house, and its expansion.
Dr. Masson increased the capacity of the building before its opening on the 1st of 1863 by raising the wing facing the garden, west of the main building.
Inside, Dr. Masson proceeded to make important changes, creating rooms and treatment rooms. Remarkable rooms were restored and even decorated with new decorations.
The clientele was also to be attracted by dining rooms that could accommodate up to one hundred and fifty guests, a billiard room, a reading room as well as spacious stables and sheds. About fifty rooms were ready to accommodate the sick, not to mention the domesticity.
But it is above all the baths and showers, fed by spring water, that visitors can discover. These unique, atypical and miraculously preserved infrastructures recall the fashion of baths, when the beautiful society came to discover and appreciate the benefits of water.

From abandonment ... to preservation

The castle remained a health establishment for a long time and was occupied during the two world wars. No longer able to meet the standards, the clinic closed its doors in the late 1980s, its activities being transferred to La Gardette, a modern establishment, still in operation in Saint-Didier.
Left abandoned and sinking into neglect, the buyout in 2019 marks the beginning of a new era, during which the Château will be returned to the admiring eyes of the public thanks to the investment, in time and money, of its new owners.