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Origin and history

The Château de Sassenage, also known as Château Bérenger, is a 17th-century pleasure castle built in the town of Sassenage, Isère, in the heart of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It replaces a second castle destroyed for the occasion, and was built between 1662 and 1669 by architect Laurent Summary for Baron Charles-Louis-Alphonse de Sassenage. This monument, surrounded by an eight-hectare estate, has preserved its period furniture, decorations and paintings, offering a rare testimony of the aristocratic art of living under the Old Regime.

The castle is inseparable from the legend of Mélusine, a mythical fairy linked to the family of Sassenage, whose origins date back to the Counts of Lyon and Forez. The façade of the castle has a carved fronton representing Melusine holding the coat of arms of the family. The first mention of a castle in Sassenage, Cassinatico's castrum, dates back to the 13th century, but the current building above all embodies the climax of the Barony of Sassenage, one of the four great Baronies of Dauphiné.

Ranked a historic monument in 1942, the castle and its park, including an alley of hundred-year-old chestnut trees, were bequeathed in 1971 to the Fondation de France by the Marquise Pierrette-Élisa de Bérenger, the last heiress of the family. The estate also houses family archives dating back to the 13th century, now held at the Departmental Archives of Isère. Since 2012, its management has been entrusted to the Association de Gestion du Domaine de Sassenage (AGDS), which organizes guided tours.

The interior of the castle features 17th and 18th century architecture, with a stone staircase, a vaulted kitchen, and furniture stamped by Parisian and Dauphinist cabinetmakers, including the famous Grenoblais dynasty Hache. Among the remarkable works are two paintings by Louis Cretey and seats allegedly offered by Louis XV. The park, originally designed in French, was transformed into an Anglo-Chinese garden in the late 18th century, then into a landscaped park in the 19th century, with rare species like cedars from Lebanon.

The castle of Sassenage inspired literary works, such as Les Liaisons dangereux de Choderlos de Laclos, where the marquise Marie-Françoise-Camille de Sassenage (1704–186) would have served as a model for the character of Madame de Merteuil. The legend of Mélusine, for its part, is at the heart of the novel The Song of the Witches of Mireille Calmel, which evokes life at the court of Philippine-Hélène Bérenger de Sassenage in the 15th century.

Today, the castle remains a place of memory and heritage, managed in accordance with the wishes of its last owner: preserve the name and heritage of the Bérenger-Sassenage. Recent restorations, conducted between 2017 and 2019, have saved this architectural and landscape gem, while making it accessible to the public during guided tours.

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