Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Mongenan Castle, located in Portets en Gironde, was built in 1736 by architect Le Herissey for Baron Antoine de Gascq, founder of the Bordeaux Academy of Sciences. The latter, close to Montesquieu, was also the first president of Guyenne's parliament. The castle, still inhabited by the same family, is a famous vintage of Graves and houses a museum dedicated to the reign of Louis XVI and to the Revolution, with collections of objects, costumes and documents of period.

The castle gardens, labeled "Remarkable Garden" in 2004, house more than a thousand varieties of tinctorial and medicinal plants. The estate also includes an active Masonic temple from 1740 to 1898, with its original decorations and furniture, as well as a collection of 18th-century Masonic objects. The castle and its outbuildings, protected since 1986 and extended in 2003, are open to the public almost all year round.

The castle is also the home of Claude Antoine de Valdec de Lessart, natural son of Baron de Gascq, who became director of the Compagnie des Indes and minister of Louis XVI. He played a key role as conciliator of the three orders to the General States of 1789. The interiors have preserved their original décor, and the agricultural buildings, restored in the 19th century, now house museum rooms.

Ranked a historic monument, Mongenan Castle illustrates the architecture and lifestyle of the 18th century Bordeaux aristocracy. Its museum offers an immersion in the political and cultural history of the end of the Old Regime, while its gardens and Masonic temple testify to the diversity of the interests of its owners.

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