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  2. Patrimoine
  3. Normandie
  4. Calvados
  5. 14970 Bénouville

  6. Benuville Castle in Calvados

 Benuville Castle in Calvados à Bénouville dans le Calvados

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine défensif
Demeure seigneuriale
Château de style néo-classique et palladien
Calvados

Benuville Castle in Calvados

    1 Avenue de Caen 
    14970 Bénouville
Owned by the Department
Museums of France
All the castles of France Neo-classical and Palladian style castle
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Château de Bénouville dans le Calvados
Crédit photo : Pascal RADIGUE - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1800
1900
2000
1768-1777
Construction by Ledoux
1794
Guillotine de Mesnage de Pressigny
1927
Purchase by Calvados
1944
Role in the Resistance
2014
Summit of the Normandy format
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
2024-2027
Closure for restoration

Heritage classified

Castle and chapel; 18th century balustrade bordering the terrace and contiguous parterre at the castle on the north side (Box A2 215, 217, 218): classification by decree of 12 December 1930; Support walls overlooking the Orne valley and the terrace they delimit; second northern parterre and driveway of linden trees bordering it; wash; facades and roofs of the west and north wings of the communes; Eastern facade of the wing is common with its balustrade (cad. A2 215, 217, 218, 222, 223): Order of 16 July 1987

Key figures

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux - Architect Designs the castle (1768-1777).
François-Hyppolite Sanguin, marquis de Livry - Sponsor Have the castle built with his wife.
Léa Vion (*la comtesse*) - Director and resistant Organises an underground network (1940-1944).
François-Marie Mesnage de Pressigny - Owner guillotine Buyer in 1792, executed in 1794.
Raymond Poincaré - President of the Council Inaugurate maternity in 1927.

Origin and history

The castle of Bénouville, located in Calvados, is a major achievement of the architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, built between 1768 and 1777 for François-Hyppolite Sanguin, Marquis de Livry, and his wife Thérèse-Bonne Gillain. This project marks a stylistic break with its roofs hidden behind an attic, abandoning traditional mansards. The interior works, led by Joseph Devilliers de Maison-Rouge and Jean-François-Etienne Gilet until 1779, completed this neoclassical gem.

In 1792, the Marquise de Livry, widow, sold the estate to François-Marie Mesnage de Pressigny, guillotined in 1794 under the Terror. His daughter Flore, wife of Baron d'Aubigny, recovered the property under the Consulate, keeping it until 1927. The castle passed through the 19th century, marked by the proximity of the Canal de Caen to the sea (initiated in 1857), and in 1927 became a departmental kindergarten, welcoming a maternity and a nursery run by nuns.

During the Second World War, the castle played a pivotal role in the Resistance thanks to its director, Léa Vion (the Countess). Under cover of her medical activity, she transmitted information to the Allies on the Atlantic Wall, hid airmen and refractories from the STO, and housed a radio transmitter. Close to the Pegasus Bridge, the site is spared from shelling thanks to a red cross on its roof. After the war, he welcomed children from Public Assistance until the 1970s.

Purchased by the Calvados General Council, the castle was restored in the 1980s to house the Regional Chamber of Accounts (1986-2012), then the European Institute of Gardens and Landscapes since 2013. In 2014, he hosted a diplomatic summit during the commemorations of the Disembarkation, giving birth to the Normandy format. Closed in 2024 for restoration, it will reopen in 2027 with a faithful reconstruction of its eighteenth century state.

Ranked a historic monument in 1930 (castle and chapel) and in 1987 (exterior and common elements), the estate illustrates the art of Ledoux with its monumental staircase and avant-garde architecture. The work in progress aims to restore its original huisseries, parquet floors and roof, while preserving its resistant memory and landscape heritage.

External links

Page Wikipedia
Official website
Page Monumentum