Château de Beaumesnil
The Beaumesnil Castle (French Château de Beaumesnil ) was in Beaumesnil 1631-1640 in Baroque style of Louis XIII. built. It is classified as a monument historique (historic monument). The castle also a 50 -acre park is one with a garden à la française. In the furnished castle is a bookbinding museum.
- 2.1 building
- 2.2 green spaces
History
The builders
Jacques le Conte, Marquis de Nonant and Baron de Beaumesnil, had the castle for his wife Marie Dauvet Desmarêt on the site of a medieval castle ( Motte ) build. The medieval castle was built around 1250. Parts of the area covered with boxwood Donjons still exist. Marie Dauvet Desmarêt was the granddaughter of Nicolas de Brûlart Sillery (1544-1624), the Chancellor of France had been. She sat by her husband's death continued the construction work.
On construction had 1631 Martin and Toussaint Laflèche with two master mason Feucherolles ( in the department of Yvelines) working from drawings of the Marquis de Nonant. Also in 1631 was doing the carpenter Jean Loiseau all rooms masonry work and created the floors. The master mason Jean Gaillard from Rouen built the facade on the courtyard side in the same year and led the masonry work at that time. He let Baptist Bastard and Jean Beauroulles, master mason in Saint- Pierre -de- Cernières, do the masonry work on the terrace side.
1633 Jean Gaillard met to discuss with the Marquis de Nonant to the size of the stones on the first floor. 1638 a roofer named Gervais Lemarinier is mentioned. Jacques -François Leclerc sculptor and fountain maker ( Fontainier ) had not yet been completed in June 1639 work on the sculptures.
The only son of Jacques Le Conte de Nonants died in 1654 at the age of 20 years. His sister Catherine inherited then Beaumesnil. She married six years later Hérard Bouton, Comte de Chamilly and governor of Dijon ( † 1672).
Subsequent owners
Stables and carriage house were built in 1706.
Through marriage, the castle came into the possession of Martel de Graville family. From 1735 to 1757 the Marquise de Martel Graville allowed enlarge the window, a lime avenue planting and remodel the park. There is a plan of the park in 1760.
Also, by marriage, the fief passed to the family de Béthune. Armand- Joseph de Bethune (1738-1800), a peer of France and Duke of Bethune - Charost, Beaumesnil made it his favorite residence. His son was guillotined on April 27, 1794 during the French Revolution and left no heirs. On December 29, 1793 Archives of the castle was burned, and in June and July 1794, the furniture of the castle were auctioned.
After Bethune - Charosts death Beaumesnil 1802 fell by marrying the widow Maximilienne - Augustine de Bethune with Eugène de Montmorency -Laval († 1851) to the family of Montmorency -Laval. Eugène de Montmorency -Laval was awarded the title of duke after the death of his older brother Mathieu de Montmorency -Laval. He left in 1819 the parish church of Saint- Nicolasam entrance building to the castle grounds.
From 1830 landscaping plants were added, which were partially removed by the restoration work in the years after 1950.
1833 married Eugène de Montmorency -Laval in second marriage the daughter of the writer Joseph Marie de Maistre ( 1753-1821 ) and bequeathed the castle to his brother Rodolphe de Maistre ( 1789-1866 ).
The neo-Gothic funerary chapel bears the date 1835. It was designed by the Swiss architect Joseph -Antoine Froelicher. The pavilions were enlarged in the 19th century.
Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov ( born September 18, 1891 to † March 5, 1942 ), Grand Duke of Russia, the castle had from 1937, but sold it in 1939 to Jean Furstenberg, who had the castle restored and newly furnished.
Jean Furstenberg (1890-1982) (actually " Hans Fürstenberg" ) was a German banker. He had an important book collection, German original editions, woodblock prints, 18th-century French books and beautiful covers. In 1936, he fled along with his 16,000 books to Paris. Furstenberg took connection to the Bibliothèque nationale de France ( French National Library, in short BN ) and donated to the library 700 first editions of German books. When the German army marching on Paris, the BN shifted some valuable manuscripts in the castle Beaumesnil. The Archives de France shifted the archives of Rouen in the castle. Shortly before the arrival of the Germans some of the manuscripts and books were sent by train to southern France yet. As Beaumesnil was busy, a part of the archives was destroyed and a portion was taken to Paris. Furstenberg's books were confiscated by the Operations Staff Reich Leader Rosenberg and brought to the central library of the High School of the NSDAP in Berlin.
Current usage
Today the castle is owned by a charitable foundation Fondation Furstenberg- Beaumesnil that since Jean Prince 's death seeks to preserve the castle and castle makes visits possible. Tours are available from Easter to September.
Plant
Building
The present castle Beaumesnil is unique in France, comparable only with the Fontaine Médicis and the Hôtel de Sully in Paris.
The palace itself consists of a main building, which is flanked by two smaller pavilions. Froelicher changed the pavilions in the 19th century, so that they corresponded more to the classicism. Its present appearance they owe Henri Jacquelin, a Norman architect who was born in Évreux and the castle Hattonchâtel restored. He left the pavilions around 1921 again provided with sculptures. The main building has four floors, basement, two living floors and attic. It is not precisely aligned to the cardinal directions, the front is located approximately to the west.
The windows are surrounded with columns and pilasters. Above the windows are triangular pediment, decorated with balls, vases, Cherubim, heraldic and military attributes and masks of the Commedia dell'arte. Also the roof gable and large chimneys are so decorated. With the changes that were made from 1735 to 1757 at the windows of the ground floor, the ornaments were removed and mounted for iron lattice. Above the entrance to the arms of the families Montmorency -Laval and Bethune - Charost were modeled in the 19th century. The coat of arms of the builder found at the gable of the east facade.
The staircase in the interior of the castle is tapered towards the top, and therefore gives the impression of great height. The living room has ornate oak paneling, which was designed on the model of wall panels in the Palace of Versailles Gonzague de Maistre ( 1873-1936 ). Today, located in the dining room, the library and a few other rooms, antique furniture and the collections of the Museum book cover.
Green spaces
From the gardens that were established simultaneously with the castle, there are only the statues. Some of the statues, however, have lost their original expression through restoration work. The original gardens were created by Jean -Baptiste de la Quintinie (1624-1688), who also designed the Potager du Roi, the vegetable garden of the king at Versailles. The original baroque gardens contained a vegetable garden on the left, pleasure gardens and fruit trees to the right of the castle ( from the entrance ). There was also a maze. A channel on the right side, which dates from the 18th century, took care of gardens and moat with water. In the 19th century the gardens were turned into a park, the Lindenalle remained.
Today's " Garden of the Four Seasons" between the moat and the Court of Honor was created as a "garden of Madame " in the 19th century, however, there was in at that time trees. 1927, the trees were cut down, planted grass and created a fountain.
The castle is surrounded by a large moat, which is connected to the front of the castle by a bridge to the main courtyard. The original deck was only 23 feet wide and was 4.5 meters long, but was enlarged in the 18th century. Jean Furstenberg and his wife taught small secluded gardens in the style of a monastery garden on one side of the main courtyard. Bring you to the so called "Half Moon " on, a baroque garden with Broderieparterre.
The remains of the moth were used as ice house. In the 19th century a walk way to the overgrown with boxwood Motte was created.
Conservation
On 8 May 1926, the castle was entered in the Register of Monuments historiques additive. Later classified parts of the castle were discharged from the auxiliary directory. Classified parts are: facades, roofs, as the grand stairway in the interior of the castle, the courtyard, the moat, the ensemble of parking and terrace, and the moth. The classification took place on 20 December 1966. The park itself, the atrium, the orchard, the fenced garden with its plants, grilles and gates, facades and roofs of the pavilions and staff input were registered on 5 February 1997 in the Additional List of Monuments historiques.