Uncategorized – Regia Marina Italiana

In 1774, Sara Raba, a merchant’s widow, driven from Portugal by the Inquisition, bought 80,000 “livres” from the daughters of Pierre Baillet the noble fief of Coudournes, also called the “Guionnet House”. In this house, according to tradition, Henri IV had slept the night before the battle of Coutras in 1587. The eight Raba brothers were all merchants except the third, who was a doctor.

Château Raba

The Raba family demolished the Guionnet house to build the 18th century villa. It is a one-story rectangular building. At each end are two projecting pavilions covered by a “brisis” roofing. In the center, a porch with four ionic columns supports a coping. Above this, a balustrade forms a balcony. However, what is more original is a small low building at the end of the outbuildings, formerly a concert hall. The entrance, framed by Tuscan columns, supports a coping decorated with urns, in the center of which is a bas-relief representing a bust surrounded by beams of light.

Château Raba

Below this, a triangular pediment decorated with cherubs in the tympanum rests on large piles of bossage (stones that have been cut roughly and often laid into position for later finishing) This room was decorated with tapestries and many paintings. The villa itself was luxuriously furnished and decorated with art objects. But the interest of this villa resides especially in its park which gave Raba the nickname “Chantilly Bordelais.”

Château Raba

The lawns were decorated with statues and fountains; sphinxes guarded the chateau; paths lined with beautiful trees led to aviaries; there were hedges, a labyrinth and a pavilion of the Muses. There were also little constructions inhabited by automatons (robots) , a mill, a sheep pen, a little alms-house , a sort of truth machine, etc.

Details – Château Raba

Artificial animals, both domestic and wild, populated the area and sometimes frightened visitors. This was an amusement park ahead of its time and a kind of patronage, because the Raba family let strollers enjoy their property, even encouraging them to visit their salons and the music room. Celebrities came to visit the famous Chantilly. The Parliament of Bordeaux came as a group, as well as Beaumarchais and in 1808, Napoleon and Josephine.

Details – Château Raba

At the time of the Revolution, the Rabas were worried like all of those whose fortune attracted attention. But like the Peixottos, they got away with a fine and protestations of good citizenship. The Revolution needed merchants and bankers for supplies and most of them recovered their property.

Today the music salon and the orangery (greenhouse) inhabited by the family’s descendants, and the guesthouse, built later and rented to a Child Protection agency, are still in good condition. But the chateau itself, which has lost part of its roofing, is slowly falling into disrepair.

Translated, with the permission of the author, Ms. Francine Musquère, from the original French versions by Laura K. Yost. Originally published on “Talance à travers le siécles” in 1986

In 1939, as with every summer, the family of Jean Calvet (grandfather of the present owner) gathered at Tauzia. They listened anxiously to the news on the T.S.F. (?) In early September, war was declared.

Two of Jean Calvet’s sons had been killed in 1914-18; Daniel had been an aviator then, but he was too old to be remobilized; Jacques was sent to the United States to take part in a commission charged with buying horses (that says a lot about France’s preparation for the war which was beginning); finally Andre, the last son, was mobilized. He left Tauzia for the Maginot line where he would be taken prisoner in May 1940.

Château Tauza Tauzia before the war

The women and children stayed at Tauzia until the end of September, then moved back to their house in Bordeaux. Before leaving Tauzia, an artillery shell from the D.C.A. fell in the park several meters away from the children, a German reconnaissance plane having flown over the region. Jacques d’Welles, a friend of the family, chief architect of the city of Bordeaux, colonel in reserve and responsible for several batteries of the D.C.A. organized the detonation of the shell, which fortunately had not exploded on the ground. More frightened than hurt! Most of the windows at Tauzia were painted blue on orders from the “passive defense” in order to avoid being spotted by the Germans.

From October to May, like every year, Tauzia was empty. The Calvet family returned to Tauzia during the terrible month of May 1940 during which the French army fought desperately against the invader. The children played war games in the park while the T.S.F. announced the capitulation of Belgium, the arrival of the government in Bordeaux, and finally the armistice, which plunged everyone into an agonizing stupor. On June 30 1940, during a stifling heat wave, a dozen Feldgendarme on motorcycles and sidecars, with their iron crosses on their chests, arrived in the courtyard of the chateau. They were followed by a hundred men on horseback: an officer dismounted and asked to speak to the owner of the chateau.

Copy of the original requisition order issued by the German authorities

Thus it was that Jean Calvet learned that the only mounted cavalry regiment of the German army would occupy Tauzia. The officers would live in the Chateau with the family before they left, and the troops would be sheltered beneath tents. It was about 4 o’clock. At 6 o’clock Colonel von Berg and three other officers requested tennis rackets and played doubles as if the war no longer existed. In the evening before dinner, there was a collective prayer recited aloud, each man beside his horse. The colonel was Catholic. He requested authorization to dine with the family.

Tauzia, during the period it was occupied by the Italian Navy.
(Photo Elio Andò)

Dinner took place in an impressive silence. The colonel explained that his regiment had encountered much resistance on the Loire where the cadets from Saumur fought very courageously. Mme. David Calvet’s sister, having sought refuge at Tauzia, told them: “My son is a cadet from Saumur.” “Those men bring honor to France,” the colonel replied, and he retired with his two officers. The one who remained explained to the family that he was Austrian, recruited by force into the German army. “Beware of the young captain, he watches all of us, and the colonel can do nothing against him. He’s a member of the Gestapo.” The Calvet family thus discovered the Nazi system.

After several days, they left for Bordeaux, leaving Tauzia in the hands of the Germans. They lived there only two months, leaving the place to Italian marines from the submarine base in Bordeaux, who would remain at the chateau for three years and would cause much damage. Mussolini’s son came to spend several weeks of rest there.

Finally the war ended and the F.F.I. took over the chateau in 1944. After their departure, the family found a devastated house: furniture broken, pictures ruined or missing. The house remained empty until 1960, when the granddaughter of Jean Calvet decided to restore it, one room at a time, and this jewel of 18th century architecture was thus saved.

Translated, with the permission of the author, Ms. Francine Musquère, from the original French versions by Laura K. Yost. Originally published on “Gradignan, de la vigne à la ville” in 1995