Castle of Thoiry

The castle of Thoiry is a Château of the Renaissance located at Thoiry in the department of the Yvelines, to about fifty kilometers in the west of Paris.

From 1560, Raoul Moreau, treasurer of the Saving of the king Henri II order with the master mason Olivier Ymbert (originating in Saint-Leger-in-Yvelines and who had worked a few years before with the Château of Rambouillet) the construction of a castle with Thoiry, on a site occupied since the 12th century. After the construction of the dependences - firm, stables, sheep-folds, dovecote - an in-depth simple main building to which two rectangular houses are connected by terraces is built starting from 1562. Towards 1580, the forecourt, which goes down by a continuation from terraces and perrons to the road from Neauphle, is arranged. The unit, built out of bricks and coated hardcore, is of a great simplicity.

At the beginning of the 18th century, transformations are carried out, perhaps under the direction of Jean-Michel Chevotet, architect of the Château of Champlâtreux. Two houses of two stages are leant with the original houses, the central staircase is replaced by an up to date staircase in one of these houses. The park is redrawn towards 1720 in the traditional style.

In 1739, the seigniory belongs to Mr. de Vatan. It passes then to the count Charles de Machault d' Arnouville, wire of the Minister of Justice of Louis XV, Jean-Baptiste de Machault d' Arnouville, via his wife, Angélique of Baussan. Their heiress, Henriette de Machault d' Arnouville (1808 - 1864), marchioness of Vogue by her marriage in 1826 with Leonce de Vogüé, makes modernize the castle towards 1840: the frontage on garden is repaired stone, the court and the forecourt is removed, the garden is put at the last style by Louis-Sulpice Varé.

Since its acquisition in 1609 by the family Marescot, the castle of Thoiry remained since 16 generations the property of the same family, become the family Panouse since the 19th century, the transmission often being done by the women. This castle crossed the centuries and the events like the Revolution, almost intact. It preserved of this fact its furniture of various times as well as important historical files.

This castle open to the public is also famous for its zoo animalist park. It is registered with the additional inventory of the historic buildings since 1973. The wooded field which surrounds it covers 380 hectares, of which 130 are occupied by the animalist park. The castle has a Clavecin Blanchet of 1712, decorated by Huet.

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