Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Thoiry, located in the Yvelines 50 km from Paris, is a Renaissance building built in the 3rd quarter of the 16th century, then redesigned in the 18th and 19th centuries. His story begins with Raoul II de Moreau, who, after killing a friend in duel in 1612, saw his property seized. The king then entrusted the castle to Guillaume Marescot, marking the beginning of fourteen generations of family transmission, often by women. This unique heritage in France went through wars, revolution and occupations without changing owners.

In 1739, Angelique de Marescot, emblematic figure of the estate, organized a Quarantine of the heart and mind to distract her sick son from the smallpox. His grandchildren, Charles and Angélique de Baussan, exchanged 1,500 love letters during the wars of the eighteenth century, precious testimonies preserved in the archives. In the 19th century, Henriette de Machault d'Arnouville modernized the facade and gardens with the help of landscape architect Louis-Sulpice Varé, integrating exotic species such as 40-metre sequoias.

The castle played a role during major conflicts: during the French Revolution, the family barely escaped guillotine thanks to the fall of Robespierre. In 1914-1918, Count Eugene de La Panouse consecrated the chapel to the Sacred Heart after a vow, while in 1939-1945, the German occupation partially degraded the place. Since 1965, Count Antoine de La Panouse has opened the castle to the public and created a zoological park on 130 hectares, while preserving its period furniture and exceptional archives (letters from Rousseau, Châteaubriand, Rodin...).

The interiors house treasures such as a harpsichord by François-Étienne Blanchet (1750) adorned by Christophe Huet, tapestries of the Gobelins offered by Louis XV, or a Virgin with the Child in ceramic by Della Robbia. The gardens, classified as a remarkable garden, combine a French-style park designed by Claude Desgot (petit-neveeu de Le Nôtre) and a 19th-century romantic English park. The castle, protected by several decrees (last one in 2024), remains a living witness to French history, from the fatal duel of 1612 to contemporary film shoots.

Among the notable anecdotes, Jean-Baptiste de Machault of Arnouville, minister of Louis XV, received a letter of regret from the king after his dismissal for trying to tax the clergy and to remove Madame de Pompadour. A painting offered by Louis XV, Departure of the fleet for Port-Mahon (1756), was auctioned in 2000. Today, the castle combines historical heritage, biodiversity (380 hectares of forest) and culture, with decorations used in films like Paris burning? (1966) or the Lupin series (2023).

Future

It houses Thoiry Zoo Park.

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