Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Marines, located in Val-d'Oise, is an emblematic building of the French Renaissance, built in the 2nd quarter of the 16th century. Sponsored by Adrien Thiercelin de Brosse, a close friend of François I, he embodies the refined architecture of this period. This lord, rewarded for his acts of arms in 1515, received the High Justice of Marines in 1521 and erected this residence, which became a symbol of power and prestige.

Thiercelin de Brosse, a talented architect, was also commissioned to complete the castle of Blois and to enlarge the palace of Luxembourg for Marie de Medici. A member of François I and then Chancellor d'Henri IV, he played a key role in political circles. However, his support for Henry IV during the religious wars led to the ruin of his family after the abjuration of the king in 1593, marking a turning point in the history of the castle.

In 1603 the estate was sold to Nicolas Brûlart de Sillery, Chancellor of Henry IV, who established an Oratorian convent there thanks to his ties with the Cardinal of Bérulle. This convent, attached to the castle until 1901, will later house the writer Nicolas Malebranche. Sillery's family retained Marines until 1659, when the Marquis de Créquy, lieutenant-general of Louis XIV, became its owner and the park was built by André Le Nôtre.

The Marquis de Créquy, involved in the Fouquet trial, was temporarily exiled to Marines before returning to service. When he died in 1687, the castle passed to his daughter, then to the Rivié family in the 18th century. During the Revolution, Louis-Marthe de Gouy d'Arsy, heir to the estate, was guillotined in 1794. The castle, which has remained in the Batardy-Joly family since 1889, houses painted ceilings classified as historical monuments since 1984.

The Château de Marines was also a place of passage for cultural figures, such as Paul Cézanne, who painted a canvas there in 1888-1890. Its architecture, although modified (disappearance of a turret of justice, replacement of the mansards), retains its Renaissance character. The park, classified in 1974, and the painted ceilings testify to its rich past, mixing political, religious and artistic history.

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