- Rendez-vous de l'Institut
- Conference
La restauration des Jardins de Chambord by Thierry JOURD’HEUIL – Château de Bénouville
Restoration of the Gardens of Chambord
Thierry Jourd’heuil will present restoration work on the gardens at the Château de Chambord which he has been conducting since 2009. This grand adventure all began when Patrick Ponsot, at the time Chief Architect for the French Historic Monuments department and in charge of the estate, asked Thierry to design the garden in 19th century English landscape style. Concurrently, the Chambord Estate entrusted him with project management for the Promenade that runs alongside the canal created by Louis XIV. A 2.5-mile pathway combining history and nature. From 2014 to 2016, he directed work on Place Saint-Louis and the gardens of the brand new reception hall, work that was part of a vast campaign aimed at improving the welcome extended to the public. It was in 2016 that the formal gardens were finally brought back to life after several years of study. This composition asserts itself in the heart of the Estate, on a terraced parcel encompassing the Château and its axis. The mission he was entrusted with by the Estate and the Chief Architect was to sustainably revive lost gardens, to define their plant species and to coordinate work within a 5-month timescale. Thierry Jourd’heuil’s testimony will unveil his role as a landscaper, whilst telling the tale of a human and plant life adventure that enabled him to bring gardens back to life in record time, there where concern on interpretation and reconstruction remains.
Thierry Jourd’heuil
Thierry Jourd’heuil is a landscaper, who graduated from the École du Breuil in Paris and the École Supérieure des Jardins et du Paysage at the Royal Institute in Brussels. He trained with Lucienne Tailhade-Colin, the first female DPLG-qualified landscaper in France, and with Jacques Vergely, professor and garden historian. He quickly joined the Jacques Vergely agency, learning the ropes over the Promenade Plantée project in Paris and on the former Forum des Halles shopping centre. He also acts as an independent partner for Gilles Clément and intervenes on a number of projects. In 1990, he created his own agency and chose to undertake projects for public authorities in Vendée, Mayenne, Creuse, Haute-Vienne and the Paris region to renovate town centres, parks, squares, public gardens, etc. He is also landscaper for an exceptional private garden in Place Dauphine in Paris and in Luberon. In 2016, he designed a Meditation Garden for a Japanese Buddhist Temple in Paris. It is thanks to his expertise and his perfect command of composition that Thierry Jourd’heuil designed the English landscaped garden in Chambord, Place Saint-Louis and the reception square gardens, and restored the 18th century gardens. His career has been marked by the Human Being, which he places at the centre of his garden system. He pays particular attention to the relationships between Man and the Earth, between Landscape and its History. His insatiable curiosity keeps him constantly on the move and takes him to contrasting and often opposing sites.