Castle of the Marsh

The castle of the Marsh is with the locality the Marsh attached to the commune of the Valley-Saint-Germain, close to Saint-Chéron in the department of the the Essonne.

History

At the 12th century, the monks of the abbey of the Be worth-with-Cernay, had cleared the forests and had drained the marshes. The first lord of the place was Jean of Saint-Germain in 1282. The family of the Saint-Germain was allied with the family of Saint-Yon. An act of 1397 mentions a feudal manor, of which one knows nothing.

To the 15th century, the two seigniories belonged to the same family. When Antoine de Vigeais inherited his Jean father, the houses were in ruins, the farmers had disappeared. Antoine gave of the order in the field and built the second castle of the Marsh. This one was bought in 1516 per Jean Hurault, adviser with the Parlement of Paris, which made it increase and made plant the park. The field remained in this family until in 1706.

At the 17th century, towards 1620, was built the third castle of which there remains only the commun runs, today transformed into museum.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the field is acquired by Pierre Henry Lemaître, who carries out important repairs, probably employing her architect, François Debias-Aubry. In 1767, its heirs sell it to Jean the Master of Martinière, general treasurer of artillery and the genious of 1758 to 1774, for more than 600.000 books. According to the act of acquisition: “The ground of the Marsh has a very beautiful castle built with modern, composed of a large body of home between court and garden. ” However, the Master makes shave the building in 1772 to make build a splendid castle by the architect Jean-Benoit-Vincent Barré. Work is carried out between 1772 and 1779. It is said that “to be sure to have of the nine”, the owner went as far as making destroy materials of demolition of the old castle.

The importance of work, the considerable sums spent, the ostentation of construction astounded the contemporaries, the such marquis de Bombelles who notes in his newspaper: “A man who, all his life, had remained in the middle of a great fortune, extremely modest, suddenly let himself go to build a castle which could suffice for a prince to royal blood. Barred seized the confidence of Mr. Master and raised buildings to him whose expenditure passes, says one, of much the sum of two million. ”

With died of Jean the Master of Martinière in April 1783, his niece, Adelaide Prévost, by his marriage Mrs. of Briche, mother-in-law of Mathieu Louis Mole, becomes owner of the castle in 1785, after negotiation with the other heirs, and receives there men of letters and politicians.

In 1897, the castle is repurchased with the duke of Noailles by the count Boniface de Castellane who makes draw by Achille Duchêne his remarkable gardens with the Frenchwoman. It absorbs the fortune of his wife there, Anna Gould, but its divorce put an end to its dreams and Anna Gould while being remariant transmitted the castle of the Marsh to the Famille of Talleyrand-Périgord.

Structure

The castle of the Marsh east, according to Boniface de Castellane, “one of the places where the constructive principles of balance are best applied. Its architecture is perfect and logical. It is well by the medium and not by the side of the court that one penetrates there. The living room of honor is in the center of the plan. It is preceded by not very decorated parts because they are used as passage, while those which follow it more sumptuous because are intended for the dwelling”. ( How I discovered America , chapter XI.)

The current castle was built at the Eastern end of the platform surrounded by water ditches which constituted the main courtyard of the old castle. The north-western and south-western angles of this platform comprise two small houses which are located at the site of those which were to already limit this court.

The principal, double building in-depth, is built on a rectangular level. The play of the roofs and light setbacks of frontage suggest traditional volumes of the castle of the 18th century: a central fore-part with five spans and side fore-parts with only one span.

The frontage on the court, most interesting (see photography), includes/understands in its central part a gantry made up of four doric columns of a colossal nature, overcome by a summoned attic of a pediment and a square dome whose drawing is taken again of that of the house of the Clock in Louvre. This provision is surprising by its proportions, even if its various components are attested in other former buildings.

On the frontage on garden, the columns are replaced by pilasters of a composite nature and the square dome by a roof in flattened house, giving an aspect much more traditional.

In the north of the castle, a platform supports the commun runs. The old buildings here were preserved but modernized and unified. With the north-western angle, the old man Colombier was preserved. A Pont spanning the ditch connects the commun runs to the castle.

The park, which had been transformed with English at the beginning of the 19th century, was recreated by Achille Duchêne between 1903 and 1906 for Boniface de Castellane. The large water part, widening of an old channel, is fed by the Rémarde (affluent of the Orge). In the east, Duchêne drew floors with the Frenchwoman on a platform surrounded by water ditches.

Nowadays, one can visit this castle of the end of the 18th century, his gardens with the Frenchwoman, the museum Talleyrand and the orangery of the castle.

Famous hosts

Visit

The museum and the park of the castle are opened with the public and the visits are made Sunday and the 2 p.m. bank holidays to 6 p.m.

Random links:Albert Eckhout | Roumoules | Birkirkara FC | Sabina Spielrein | Dark Maladi | Banlieue_noire_du_nord_d'étoile,_Michigan