Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Chilly-Mazarin found its origins in the 13th century with a first construction by the Counts of Dreux. However, it was in the 17th century that Antoine Coëffier de Ruzé d'Effiat, Superintendent of Finance and Marshal of France, redeveloped between 1627 and 1632. He entrusted the works to architect Métezeau and embellished the estate with a French-style garden, a canal, moats and water parts. Artists Simon Vouet, François Perrier and Jacques Sarrazin take part in his interior decoration. In 1659 Molière played Le spite amour in front of Louis XIV, marking a notable cultural event.

In the 17th century, the castle passed to Armand-Charles de La Porte de La Meilleraye, grandson of Antoine Coëffier, and to his wife Hortense Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin. The estate is then transferred to the Durfort-Duras families and then to Aumont. In 1804 it was sold to Louis Joseph Lecocq, who destroyed the two wings of the castle. In 1822, the house body was razed and replaced by a neoclassical home, remodeled in 1903. In the 20th century, the castle belonged briefly to François-Ignace Mouthon, press boss and mayor of the city.

The castle is partially classified as historical monuments: the pavilion of gaze in 1926, then moat, bridge and entrance pavilion in 1929. In 1971, the municipality acquired the estate for the town hall. Today, it preserves 17th century architectural elements, such as commons and moats, as well as a park decorated with a canal and madness serving as a look at the aqueduct.

The original 17th century architecture included a central house body flanked by two lantern pavilions, framed by back wings and outbuildings. The present neoclassical castle rests on a full ground surrounded by moats crossed by a three arched bridge. The communes, composed of two square pavilions connected by a mansard roof building, remain in part. The park, always structured around the canal, bears witness to the original landscaping.

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