Château de Sceaux

The Parc de Sceaux is today a 181 -hectare castle park south of Paris on the municipalities of Sceaux and Antony in the département of Hauts -de- Seine. The park was designed by André Le Nôtre for Jean -Baptiste Colbert and his eldest son. He was several times in danger of disappearing. During the French Revolution, he was converted into an agricultural school. At the beginning of the 19th century originally for the central park castle was ( from the 15th century, enlarged after 1670 ) destroyed.

History

Since the 15th century manor house is detectable in Sceaux. 1670 sought Jean- Baptiste Colbert, minister of Louis XIV, a property close to Paris and not too far from Versailles. He bought the manor house, still acquired to other areas and extended the end of 1597 the castle by an unknown architect, possibly Antoine Le Pautre. The chapel was painted by Charles Lebrun. Artists such as François Girardon, Jean -Baptiste Tuby, Jean -Baptiste Théodon were involved in the design of Colbert's office was decorated with 24 busts of Roman emperors, senators and noble women. The great north-south axis of the garden measured over a kilometer in length. Was much admired by his contemporaries, the great cascade.

After Colbert's death in 1683 his eldest son inherited the property. This had converted the palace and gardens. The Marquis de Seignelay was 1686 and the partially still existing Orangery by Jules Hardouin -Mansart built. The park was enlarged to 227 hectares. André Le Nôtre created a second major axis.

In 1700 the estate passed to the Duke of Maine, the legitimate son of Louis XIV by Madame de Montespan by purchase. The Duchess of Maine, granddaughter of the Great Condé held court there.

1793, the property was confiscated as national ( Bien national), most statues migrated to Alexandre Lenoir's Musée des Monuments français. 1798 Castle and garden of Jean François Hippolyte Lecomte, a wealthy wine merchant acquired with good relations with the Minister of Police Joseph Fouché. Lecomte had the castle in 1803 to tear.

1828 married Anne -Marie Lecomte - Stuart ( 1808-1870 ), daughter of wine merchant Lecomte Napoléon Mortier de Trévise ( 1804-1869 ), the son of Édouard Adolphe Mortier, a marshal of Napoleon. 1856-1862 was the couple instead of Colbert's construction a small castle in the style of Louis XIII build. The plans was supplied by the architect Joseph -Michel Le Soufaché. Le Nôtre Garden concept was restored, and the palace and park were again place glamorous parties. After the end of World War II, the property was private no longer obtain. 1923 had him the heir to the parks, Marie Léonie Mortier de Trévise, née Princesse de Faucigny - Cystria sell. Jean -Baptiste Bergeret de Frouville, mayor of Sceaux, the merit too, to have won the Conseil Général of the Département de la Seine at the time of the purchase. However, the administrative authority parceled third of the park in order to restore this in 1928. The Pavillon de l' Aurore, with its ceiling painted by Charles Lebrun is one of the few remains of the baroque palace complex.

The Pavillon de Hanovre in 1932 was transferred to the park. The originating from 1758-1760 building by the architect Jean -Michel Chevotet stood in the gardens of the Duke of Richelieu, and had the Palais Berlitz language institute soft on the Boulevard des Italiens. Since 1971, the park is owned by the Hauts -de -Seine and is also used for concerts. Supertramp, Madonna and Johnny Hallyday are there already occurred in large open-air concerts.

The new castle, west view

Pavillon de l' Aurore

Pavillon de Hanovre