Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Saint-Baslemont, located in the Vosges department in the Grand Est region, rises on a hill overlooking the valley of Chèvre-Roche. Built in the 14th century by the Counts of Montreux, it passed in 1487 to the family of Reinach via the marriage of Marie de Montreux and Louis de Reinach. In the 16th century, Claude de Reinach, the chamberlain of Duke Charles III of Lorraine, undertook important modifications to modernize the medieval fortress, giving it its present Renaissance appearance.

In the 17th century, the castle was inherited by Jean-Jacques de Haraucourt, Colonel Lorrain, and his wife Alberte-Barbe d'Ernécourt, nicknamed the Christian Amazon for his role during the Thirty Years War. In 1635 the castle underwent a Swedish siege. He then passed to the Armoises by marriage in 1646 and was sold in 1768 to Jean-Baptiste Alexandre, attorney general, marking the end of his seigneurial era. In the 19th century, he changed hands several times, including that of Fernand Samuel, director of the Théâtre des Variétés, who received the actress Eve Lavallière.

Transformed into a hotel in 1922, the castle was partially classified as a Historic Monument in 1937. After World War II, it fell into ruins until Mr. Labourot undertook restorations in the 1970s. However, a fire destroyed the communes in 1975. Today, the house body is restored, but the outbuildings remain in ruins. Since 2017, it has been owned by Patrick Groult.

Architecturally, the L-shaped castle combines a 17th century main house, flanked by two 14th century medieval towers, and Renaissance outbuildings. The south facade, pierced by windows framed with red sandstone, overlooks terraced gardens, while the courtyard of honour, closed by an 18th century gate, gives access to the whole. Nearby, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church, an ancient Gothic Castral chapel (1560), houses a 16th century classified altarpiece.

The property had six seigneurial families from the 12th to the 18th century: Saint-Baslemont, Graux, Montreux, Reinach, Haraucourt and Armoises. Each line has marked the history of the site with matrimonial alliances or architectural transformations, reflecting the political and social evolutions of Lorraine and the Barrois.

Ranked for its defensive elements and home, the castle illustrates the transition between medieval fortress and aristocratic residence. Its history combines conflicts (Thirty Years' War), local figures (the Christian Amazon) and functional metamorphoses, moving from a stronghold to a resort, then to an untouched tourist project.

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