Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château du Rocher-Portail, located in the northeast of Ille-et-Vilaine in Maen Roch, is a building built between 1586 and 1607 in granite, with modulated cornice roofs and decorated chimneys. It consists of a central body flanked by two square wings: one houses an Italian-inspired Renaissance gallery, the other a central gate. The estate includes a chapel with cannons, a dovecote, moats and a pond fed by the Échelles Creek. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1961 and then in 2018, it was owned by Gilles de Ruellan, close to Henri IV and Cardinal de Richelieu, before passing into the hands of three families until 2016.

The castle preserves traces of its social history, especially under the Boutray (1866–2016), which employed 35 servants. Interiors, such as service rooms or period photographs, illustrate the aristocratic life of the 19th and 20th centuries. Acquired in 2016 by Manuel Roussel, the site opens to the public in 2017 before specializing in thematic animations, such as the school of sorcerers (2022–2024), attracting up to 40,000 visitors in 2024. In 2025, the animation was renamed the Castle of Sorcerers.

The castle also served as a setting for the film Les Chouans (1947) by Henri Calef, along with Jean Marais, highlighting his court of honor, his Italian gallery and his drawbridge. Its architecture, combining Renaissance influences and medieval defenses (doves, cannons), makes it a remarkable example of the Breton castles of the 16th-17th century hinge. Protected features include the castle, communes, park, moat and pond, classified in 2018.

The historical sources underline its role as feudal pledge for the Sénéchal of Saint-Brice-en-Cogles, as well as its reconstruction under Louis XIII by Gilles Ruellan. The site, always private, alternates between closures to the public (as in 2023) and cultural projects, while preserving its architectural heritage and family archives intact for four centuries.

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