Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Soupir was originally a 16th-century manor house, which was profoundly renovated in the 19th century. At that time, only a portal dated 1908 remains, the last vestige of a building destroyed by the bombings of November 1914, and then dismantled in 1926. The site, transformed into agricultural fields, preserves the memory of a lost heritage, marked by the ravages of the First World War.

In its early days, the castle was a wooden fortress built in the 9th century, destroyed during the Hundred Years War. Reconstructed in the 19th century, it was acquired in 1873 by Pauline Ple, who gave it a Renaissance style while preserving two medieval towers. After her death in 1902, Marie Georget (the so-called Mary Boursin) became the owner and had the triumphal arch erected in 1906, the only current relic.

During the First World War, the castle served as a military hospital on the front line. Fired in November 1914 and then bombed, it was looted in 1915 by soldiers and the curator of the Nevers Museum, who saved works from the ruins. After the war, the owners sold the estate to an agricultural company, which razed the last remains to create arable land. The portal was listed as a historic monument in 2007.

The castle illustrates the tormented history of the Hauts-de-France, where conflicts have erased part of the heritage. Its portal, symbol of resistance, recalls both the past opulence of the 19th century and the violence of the fighting that shaped this territory. Today, the site invites reflection on the fragility of monuments in the face of history.

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