Château de La Roche-Guyon v1.0
The Château de La Roche-Guyon is a French castle in the town of La Roche-Guyon in the Val-d’Oise at the gates of Normandy on the right bank of the Seine.
The original medieval castle and its keep, now in ruins, are sitting on the top of a hill and received important additions during the 18th century at the foot of the hill as well as a garden.
In 911, the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte confers “the right bank of the Epte and the territories to the sea” to the authority of Rollo, first duke of Normandy, while the left bank is attributed to the kingdom of France of Charles III .
The Epte is then fortified and La Roche-Guyon, between Epte and the Seine, constitutes a strategic defense site. A first troglodyte castle is built there to defend the Île-de-France .
Philippe-Auguste stayed at the castle in 1185 and wanted to ensure the loyalty of his vassal Guy de La Roche by granting him two major privileges: the right to levy tolls for boats sailing on the Seine as well as the exclusive hunting right on the royal lands of the Arthies Forest.
Guy de La Roche, at the marches of the kingdom, must also ensure its protection and to do this built the circular keep 35 meters high overlooking the Seine. It completes it with a triangular spur on its northern flank, the most exposed to a possible attack while the central tower is surrounded by a defensive line. A staircase of a hundred steps is carved into the cliff to connect the whole to the troglodyte castle.
In 1551 Henri de Silly became count of La Roche Guyon and married Antoinette de Pons. His son Francois de Silly becomes Count of La Roche Guyon.
In 1659, the estate was broughtas a dowry when Jeanne du Plessis-Liancourt married François VII de La Rochefoucauld. François de la Rochefoucauld was elevated to the rank of Duke of La Roche-Guyon by letters patent inNovember 1679.
His grandson, Alexandre de la Rochefoucauld, fell in disgrace and devote himself to geography, philosophy and other sciences in his estates of La Roche-Guyon and Liancourt which he took care of embellishing and improving as well as the adjoining villages.
In 1733, a monumental Baroque entrance was made in its eastern rampart. The entrance opens onto a large staircase which itself gives onto the guard room and reception rooms.
In 1740, the duke called on the architect Louis Villars, who built the stables in five years. Very similar to those of Chantilly in their style or size, the central door is surmounted by a prancing horse sculpted by Jamay.
A large entrance gate is installed, crowned with the ducal crown and the arms of La Rochefoucauld.
In 1741, a small observatory was created on the western terrace.
Further improvements were carried out by his descendants, in particular the Duchess of Enville who added the Pavillion de Villars and the Pavillon d’Enville.
The castle briefly returned to the Rohan-Chabot family in the early 19th century and received presitigious guests as Lamartine or Victor Hugo. It then went back to the La Rochefoucauld. In 1930, with the death of François XV de La Rochefoucauld, a partial dispersion of the furniture takes place. However, La Roche-Guyon was one of the rare examples of residences having preserved all of its movable and real estate heritage since the Revolution.
From February 1944 , the castle was occupied by the staff of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel. The latter was earlier appointed responsible for the defense of the French coasts against the allied landing which was coming.
On the evening of August 25, La Roche-Guyon suffered a useless Allied bombardment : sixty-four bombs hit the village, eight of which hit the castle. The outbuildings of the castle were affected, the roof of the stables collapsed and the castle itself was gutted. Long restorations have been undertaken from 1946.
The castle and the village serve as the background for the science fiction comic LE Piège Diabolique, published in 1960-1961 by the Belgian cartoonist and screenwriter Edgar P. Jacobs and which is part of the Blake and Mortimer series .
In 1987, acts of vandalism in the uninhabited castle combined with the lack of maintenance required essential restoration, the cost of which could not be borne by the estate. All the furniture, decoration, woodwork and the library, almost intact since the Revolution, were then dispersed at auction (only 8 pieces were subject to a non-exit measure from the national territory in the name of heritage protection) .
The domain, empty, remains the property of the family but it is entrusted by emphyteutic lease , to the general council of Val-d’Oise which assumes the costs of maintenance, conservation, operation and development.
Opened to the public in 1994, it is gradually coming back to life with the help of events (festivals, filming, etc.) and fundings ( Ministry of Culture , Heritage Foundation, Stéphane Bern Foundation, etc.). The castle is classified as historical monument.
The castle has been manually recreated from various photos and videos from the internet. It comes with its own POI.
This mod is not intended for sale or resale.
GPS Coordinates: 49.08135167838955, 1.6277246674539516
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