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Origin and history

Raray Castle, located in the Oise (Hauts-de-France), is an emblematic building dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, combining Renaissance and classical styles. Originally built in 1522, it preserves only the facades of the central body, marked by traces of missing girdles. Major transformations took place between 1610 and 1620 under Nicolas de Lancy, which added ground frontons to the lateral wings and erected the famous cynegetic hedges, inspired by Italian models. These monumental balustrades, decorated with dog sculptures and hunting scenes, originally linked the castle to an old house today destroyed.

In the 18th century, the Marquis de Barres undertook a radical overhaul: between 1766 and 1781, they moved the cynegetic hedges to line them parallel, demolished the old oriental castle, and built the "new pavilion" to the south with the recovered stones. The Red Gate, a triumphal access to the forest, is also moved during this work. A last modernization campaign, led by Henri de La Bédoyère between 1890 and 1914, completed to give the castle its present appearance, including the destruction of houses obstructing the prospect of the court of honour.

The castle also owes its fame to its appearance in La Belle et la Bête (1945) by Jean Cocteau, shot in its Renaissance decors. Ranked a historic monument in 1924 for its facades and roofs, it also houses 17th century painted ceilings protected in 1983. The estate, still owned by the same family, includes a park redesigned in the 19th century (now partly occupied by a golf course), a 16th century farm with dovecote, and outbuildings like the old stables, whose rectangular gable is remarkable.

Cynegetic hedges are the most original element of the site: long balustrades carved by 20 dogs each in a hunting position, framing ancient busts or effigies of the lords of Raray. Their iconography celebrates Nicolas de Lancy's cynegetic passion, influenced by his Florentine wife and his travels to Italy. The Red Gate, contemporary of the balustrades, symbolizes the entrance to the hunting territories, with her Diane sitting between two junipers.

The wall of enclosure, dating from 1610–20, completes this defensive and aesthetic device. Four corner turrets (without murderers) and the gable of stables, equipped with a rare rectangular scald, are listed in the Historic Monuments. Although the English garden created by Thomas Blaikie between 1811 and 1828 has disappeared, the park retains traces of its landscaping, now integrated into the golf course built in 1988.

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