Visits

This room was named after Saint Christophe, the patron saint of the church of Simiane, the cradle of the former lords. It has hardly changed since it was refurbished around 1639 for the marriage of Louis II de Simiane to Louise de Monteynard. At that time, it was the main room of the medieval hotel, which had not been altered much.

It may have been decided at that time to replace the old transom windows with the present triple cross windows and to repaint the interior. The frieze in the hall is the only surviving work. It celebrates the union in the largest of the cartouches, above which two putti (angels) bear the coats of arms of the couple.

The inventory of the property of their son Charles-Louis in 1661 describes the entire room, with its gypsum fireplace (no longer extant), the seven Flanders tapestries representing the story of Alexander, the twelve armchairs covered in green velvet, the twelve caquetoires (light armchairs) covered with carpet, the tables, including a folding half-moon, the stools and a bench.

As then, this room still opens onto the chapel covered with a gypsum (plaster stone) dome. But it has lost the gilded leather trim of its altar, its altarpiece of the Holy Family, its ornaments and its liturgical vestments.

At the back, the library contains a very large number of old volumes as well as some incunabula. The 18th century cupboard doors come from the former hospital pharmacy, restored in 1930.

Victor Scharf was born in Vienna, Austria. Married to a Valréassienne, he lived in Valréas from 1932 to 1943. The paintings and furniture, including two Empire chests of drawers, a square piano in lemon wood and a grand piano, were bequeathed by Mrs Cushmann, an American, daughter of Mr and Mrs Scharf. The room that bears her name has a special chestnut frame (partly 14th century).