Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of La Celle, originally a monastery composed of a farmhouse and monastic buildings, was sold in 1616. A first building, the central core of the present castle, is then built. The site changed hands several times before being acquired by the Duke of La Rochefoucauld under Louis XIV, who completed its construction. In 1748, the Marquise of Pompadour bought it to make it a place of relaxation and received Louis XV there. She adds embellishments and supervises from La Celle the works of her Bellevue castle in Meudon.

In 1750, the farmer general Jacques-Jérémie Roussel de Rocquencourt bought the estate and expanded significantly, notably with the pavilion and the north wing, giving it its current configuration. From 1776 to 1804, Louis Pierre Parat de Chalandray transformed French gardens into a landscaped park, with the help of Jean-Marie Morel. The Viscount Morel de Vindé became its owner in 1804 and received Louis XVIII there, while raising a herd of famous merinos.

In 1844, the Luxembourg businessman Jean-Pierre Pescatore acquired the castle and embellished the park with the Bühler brothers, creating the Allée of foreign trees and building an orangery, greenhouses for its rare orchids, and a covered ride. Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie were received twice. At his death in 1855, a succession dispute broke out, and the estate remained in the Dutreux family for more than a century. In 1870, a shell damaged orangery during the Franco-Prussian war, destroying exotic collections.

During the Second World War, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg took refuge there in 1940 before the German occupation. Released in 1944, the castle was left in 1951 to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under strict conditions of use, by Auguste and Suzanne Dutreux. It became a venue for diplomatic meetings, hosting international summits such as Morocco's independence agreements (1955) or the G5 Sahel conference (2017). Ranked a historic monument in 1978, its park has been protected since 1985.

The castle also played a major political role: in 1958 Charles de Gaulle had Michel Debré and his team draft the Constitution of the Fifth Republic. Since then, it has served as a forum for ministerial meetings and official receptions, while maintaining its historic park and orangery restored in 2013.

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