Château de Condé

The Condé castle is located in the French town of Condé -en- Brie in the department of Aisne. Its name comes from the Celtic word condatum, the confluent ( German: confluence ) and refers to the nearby confluence of the Dhuis and Surmelin. Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé chose his title after the reign, the center of which was this castle.

The three-winged building forms around a main courtyard and is surrounded by a large park with three hundred year old trees. The plant is together with its interior since October 1979 a national monument and is privately owned. However, it can be visited during some months of the year.

History

Probably on the foundations of a Gallo -Roman estate, a first castle was built. Under the present flooring of the castle still exists a patch from Roman times. First known lord of the castle was Jean de Montmirail, whose daughter Marie Enguerrand III. de Coucy married and gave the castle to the family of her husband. Enguerrand III. 1200 was the first to build a tower at the site of the present castle, whose two -meter thick walls are still partially preserved.

Marie de Coucy, last scion of the family of Coucy, married 1400 the Count of Bar and brought the castle to his family. Also by marriage then it came into the possession of the House of Luxembourg, of which it again in 1487 with Maria of Luxembourg came to the then Count of Vendôme, because she had married François de Bourbon, comte de Vendôme. Her son, Louis, Cardinal and Archbishop of Sens, had the building in the 16th century rebuilt into a closed four-wing building in the Renaissance style, of which only two gatehouses are preserved. Louis ' nephew, Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, spent part of his childhood there, and it inspired him the title of Prince of Condé (French: Prince de Condé ) to accept after he inherited the rule and Castle 1556 had.

Until 1624 the castle remained in the possession of the Condé family. In that year, Marie de Bourbon- Condé Thomas Francis of Savoy - Carignan married from the house of the Dukes of Savoy and brought it into the marriage. When her grandson Victor Amadeus of Savoy - Carignan lord of the castle was Louis XIV the system - like all French possessions of the family of Savoy - confiscate 1711, there was fighting Victor Cousin Eugene of Savoy during the Spanish War of Succession on the anti-French alliance side. After being placed under sequestration, military troops were housed in the castle until 1719 before it was sold in dilapidated condition to Jean -François Leriget, marquis de La Faye, a counselor of the king.

Leriget commissioned Giovanni Niccolo Servandoni, one of the architects of the Palazzo Farnese in order to rebuild the old Renaissance palace in the Baroque style. Servandoni had to tear down not only one of the four wings of the building to ensure a better room lighting, but also let the facade design completely symmetrical. He also called artists such as Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean -Baptiste Oudry for the transformation of the castle interior to Condé.

Through marriage of Lerigets grandniece the castle came to the Counts of La Tour du Pin, who inherited it in 1814 to the family de Sade. The latter owned the castle until 1983 and saved it after severe damage during the two world wars by repairs and partial reconstruction prior to final ruin. Since it has bought the family Pasté de Rochefort, make it the new owners restored continuously.