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Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye dans les Yvelines

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine défensif
Demeure seigneuriale
Château de style Henri II ou seconde Renaissance
Yvelines

Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye

    21 Rue Thiers
    78100 Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Crédit photo : Auguste Alexandre Guillaumot (1815-1892) - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
1557
Construction begins
1559
Conclusion of work
1593
Resumed by Henry IV
1638
Birth of Louis XIV
1682
Abandonment for Versailles
1777
Demolition
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Façades of the Henry IV pavilion, dome surmounting it and cave; large stone and brick retaining wall of the time of Henri IV decorated with vermiculated bosses and medallions, which overlooks the Pecq road; facade and two caves of the old Doric gallery with the two ramps of the terrace that surmounts them belonging to the commune; facades of the so-called Sully pavilion located below the Pecq road, with terraces and vaulted galleries (vestiges of the old gardens): classification by order of 12 May 1925; Salon (former chapel) including its original decoration of the Henri IV pavilion (Box AH 37): classification by decree of 26 April 1988 This building is part of the Domaine national du château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye established by Decree No. 2024-472 of 24 May 2024. The interior parts were listed as historic monuments in full and automatically by this decree.

Key figures

Henri II - King of France (1547–1559) Initial sponsor of the castle.
Philibert Delorme - Royal Architect Designer of Château Neuf in 1557.
Henri IV - King of France (1589–1610) Expands the castle and its gardens.
Tommaso Francini - Fontanier and engineer Created caves and fountains (1598–1603).
Louis XIV - King of France (1643–1715) Born in the castle in 1638.
Jacques II Stuart - King of England in exile Residence at the castle (1688–1701).

Origin and history

Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, built from 1557 under Henri II by architect Philibert Delorme, was originally conceived as a modern "pleasure house", without ditches or round path. Ordered by the king and Catherine de Medici, this theatre-shaped building offered an exceptional view of the Seine and housed royal apartments, baths, a chapel and an antechamber. The works, interrupted by the death of Henry II in 1559, resumed partially under Charles IX and Henry III, but the initial project was never completed according to Delorme's plans.

Under Henry IV, the castle experienced a second youth from 1593. The king, seduced by the view of the valley of the Seine recalling his natal castle of Pau, entrusted Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau the extension of the building and the layout of the terraces descending towards the river. The gardens, inspired by Italian models, were enriched with caves decorated with sculptures, fountains (like the Dragon by Tommaso Francini) and water games, thanks to the gifts of Grand Duke Ferdinand I of Medici. The terraces, designed by Étienne Dupérac and Claude Mollet, became a masterpiece of the art of French gardens.

Château Neuf was a place of power and birth: Louis XIV was born there in 1638, and Louis XIII died there in 1643. Under Louis XIV he served as an occasional residence before being abandoned to Versailles in 1682. The castle will also house prestigious exiles, such as Charles II Stuart (1650–54) and James II of England (1688–01), including the daughter Louise Marie Thérèse born there in 1692. Despite partial restorations in the 17th century, the gardens fell into ruins after the Fronde (1649), and the upper terrace collapsed around 1660.

In 1777 Louis XVI handed over the castle, then very degraded, to his brother the Earl of Artois. He began his demolition in 1784 for a neo-classical reconstruction project never realized. The materials were sold, and today only four pavilions (including Pavillon Henri IV and Pavillon Sully), remains of the terraces, and underground elements remain. The caves and the Lion wall, classified as Historic Monuments in 1925, recall the ancient splendor of this royal site.

The gardens of Château Neuf, conceived as an artistic and political setting, illustrate Italian influence in France and the royal patronage. The sculptures of Jean Bologna (such as Mercury today at the Louvre) and the hydraulic automatons of Tommaso Francini made it a unique place, before its decline symbolized the transfer of power to Versailles. Florentine archives reveal the extent of the exchanges between Henry IV and the Medici, marking a period of cultural diplomacy between France and Italy.

The posterity of Château Neuf rests on its architectural remains and its landscape heritage. The large terrace, renovated by Le Nôtre between 1669 and 1673, remains a testimony of its integration into the royal domain. John Thorpe's drawings (1600) and traveler accounts, like Thomas Platter (1599), document his apogee, while Turner's paintings (1820) capture his progressive disappearance, reducing this symbol of the French Renaissance to a romantic memory.

External links