2019 celebrates 500 years of the Renaissance in the Centre-Val de Loire region, with the lovely name of Garden of France.

On this occasion, the Château d'Ainay le Vieil, which perfectly illustrates this period since it has a renaissance main building and water gardens from the same period, hosted an international symposium on 16 and 17 July on the theme of "the Renaissance garden between arts and sciences".

The symposium was organised and coordinated by Marie-Sol de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vice-President of the Fondation des Parcs et Jardins de France, in charge of the gardens of the Château d'Ainay-le-Vieil. Its scientific organisation was ensured by Michael Jakob, Professor at the Haute École du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève and at the Polytechnic of Milan, and by Benoist Pierre, Director of the Centre d'études supérieures de la Renaissance (CESR, University of Tours) and of the ARD programme Intelligence des Patrimoines.

Surrounded by high quality speakers from all over the world, the symposium aimed to show the extraordinary richness and creativity of the Renaissance, a period that reinvented the garden, which had almost disappeared for many centuries, to deepen and compare the knowledge of specialists on the art of the Renaissance garden and to educate the public of amateurs and scholars who participated in these study days.

A symposium rich in cultural and human exchanges, the proceedings of which will be published later.

The Association of Friends of the Château d'Ainay le Vieil would like to thank the following for their support: the Centre Val de Loire Region, the Regional Heritage Intelligence Programme, the Centre for Advanced Renaissance Studies, Christie's, the Fondation des Parcs et Jardins de France and the company MYL Consulting.

(Re) Discover the conference in video

Conference 16 July

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Conference 17 July

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