ICEHOUSE

We were surprised to happen upon this neglected glacière, or icehouse, gaping open on the grounds of the Château de Chenonceau; but even more intrigued by the deteriorated sculpture above its entrance. We can't quite make it out; in its present state it seems to resemble either the head of a hunting dog, a wolf, or even a horse. The masonry structure was built to cover a deep pit where ice was stored.

The very feminine Château de Chenonceau, on the Cher River in the Loire Valley, is the second most visited castle in France, Versailles being of course the first.

©2014 P.B. Lecron

WHEN ICE WAS A LUXURY

In this 18th-century glacière, ice, a culinary luxury, was once stocked during the winter months for use later in the year in a semi-subterranean, masoned excavation. This exceptional example of a fabrique de jardin is one among the remaining architectural folies at the Désert de Retz, a landscaped garden created in 1774 by the aristocrat François Racine de Monville. The site, one of the most famous of its time, was a product of the Siècle des Lumières or Age of Enlightenment. At that time the word "désert" was often the term used for a place where one could withdraw from the everyday world to think and to reflect. Illustrious guests to this garden retreat included Madame du Barry, King Gustave III of Sweden, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Marie-Antoinette visited the Désert de Retz several times, taking inspiration for the construction of her own follies--a hamlet and dairy: the Hameau de la Reine in the park of the Château de Versailles and the Laiterie de la Reine in the park of the Château de Rambouillet. 

Vocabulary
la folie:  folly, madness
une fabrique de jardin:  an ornamental construction designed to decorate a landscaped garden, and which generally has an exotic or extravagant form inspired by architectural elements of antiquity, history or nature
une glacière:  an icehouse