Château de Madrid

The Madrid Castle was a castle of the Renaissance in France. It was up to today's Porte de Madrid on the territory of the present municipality of Neuilly -sur -Seine on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. It was built in the 16th century as a royal residence, came later in the 17th and 18th century in increasing decay and was demolished during the French Revolution.

History

The construction of the castle began in 1527 by order of King Francis I, who had been captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 and had spent a few months in Madrid. The works were initially under the direction of the Florentine architect Girolamo Della Robbia, then took several French architects construction management, including Philibert Delorme. The building was completed in 1552 under Henry II

The castle became famous especially through the richly decorated facade, which was equipped by Della Robbia almost completely with bas-reliefs in terracotta, as well as its magnificent interior decoration. For this reason, the castle also Château de Faience was called. Architecturally unified the building influences of the Italian Renaissance, with the H - shaped plan of the central part and the rich external decoration, and French traditions in the form of the corner towers at both the pavilion and the layout of the internal spaces, which were inspired by the castles of Chenonceau and Chambord.

In the course of the 16th century, just before the St. Bartholomew's Day, the Madrid Castle of Charles IX. and Catherine de Medici lived, then at the beginning of the 17th century by Margaret of Valois. Under Louis XIV, who never visited the castle itself, the building served as the residence of the Secretary of State and later Privy Seal Joseph Fleuriau d' Armenonville. 1666 here a manufactory for silk stockings was set up, but had only a short time because of the shortage of skilled workers and the wars of Louis XIV.

During the regency of Louis XV. Princess Marie Louise Élisabeth lived de Bourbon- Orléans in the palace, which was abandoned after her death in 1719 by the House of Bourbon and rapidly fell into disrepair. 1787 was the Madrid palace along with the Château de la Muette - also located on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne - as well as the Château de Vincennes and the Blois Castle on the orders of Louis XVI. released for sale. Before the outbreak of the Revolution, the Madrid palace was a ruin and was in 1792 by M. Leroy, the head of a demolition company, bought with assignats and then demolished. The only remains of the castle are now a stone capitals and some earthenware fragments, which are exhibited in the Museum of Ceramics in Sèvres and in Écouen castle.