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Origin and history

The castle of Saint-Laurent-le-Minier, also known as the Junié castle, is located in the eponymous village of Gard, in Occitanie. Originally integrated into the Barony of Hierle, it was acquired in 1649 by Jean de Bonnail after the forced sale by Christophe de Montfaucon, ruined. Upon the death of Bonnail, his daughter Marie, wife of Pierre de Sarret, will inherit the estate.

In 1664, Pierre de Sarret, king's adviser to Montpellier, undertook the reconstruction and extension of the castle. The gardens, designed according to the plans of André Le Nôtre, underwent major transformations between 1750 and 1800, when the estate passed through marriage to the family of Vissec de Latude. The hydraulic system, including an aqueduct, an artificial cascade and a 16-metre noria (destroyed in the 20th century), bears witness to the technical ingenuity of the era.

The castle, inscribed in historical monuments since 1988, preserves remarkable elements such as a vaulted arch-of-cloister salon, sculptures (sphinges, dogs), and a nymph. Its initial 250 hectares, reduced to 7 today, still house an orchard and palm grove. Since 1977, the estate has been divided into condominiums and remains inaccessible to the public.

Architecturally, the castle evokes the large Languedoc houses, with roofed roofing pavilions of painted tiles and terraces surrounding the main building. Its aqueduct and waterfall, created in the 18th century, once fed gardens and fountains. The site, although private, embodies the aristocratic and landscaped heritage of the region.

The facades, modified over the centuries, and the hydraulic system (classified with gardens) reflect aesthetic and technical developments between the 17th and 18th centuries. The castle of Saint-Laurent-le-Minier, although less well known than the castle of Castries to which it is compared, remains a significant example of the art of living of the provincial elites

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