Origin and history
The castle of Lunéville, located in the eponymous city of Lorraine, finds its origins in the Middle Ages with a first castrum built towards the year thousand by Count Folmar of Metz to control the salt road. This strategic site, transformed into a quadrangular castle in the 12th century by Hugues I of Lunéville, passed under ducal domination in 1243 with Mathieu II of Lorraine. Over the centuries, the Dukes regularly stayed there, like Raoul, who founded a chapel there in 1343, or René II, who tried to save him from the ruin at the end of the 15th century after the Burgundy occupation.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Duke Henry II undertook a complete reconstruction of the castle between 1609 and 1620, giving birth to a U-shaped building, marked by a central body and side pavilions. This castle, burned in 1638 during the Thirty Years' War, was briefly restored before being demolished to give way to the ambitious project of Duke Léopold I. The latter, who returned to Lorraine in 1697 after the French occupation, chose Lunéville as his official residence, inspired by Versailles. The works, carried out from 1703 to 1723 by architects Pierre Bourdict, Nicolas Dorbay and above all Germain Boffrand, transform the site into a majestic palace, although its northern wing remains unfinished for financial reasons.
The castle reached its peak during the reign of Stanislas Leszczyński, the fallen king of Poland and stepfather of Louis XV, which made it a place of intellectual and artistic influence between 1737 and 1766. Stanislas, although a puppet sovereign, developed a magnificent courtyard, embellished the gardens with exotic factories (such as the Kiosk or the Rock with automatons) and attracted philosophers of the Enlightenment like Voltaire. After his death in 1766, the duchy was annexed by France, and the castle, emptied of its furniture, was transformed into a military barracks in the nineteenth century, suffering several fires (notably in 1814 and 1849).
In the 20th century, the castle was partially classified as a historical monument (chapel in 1901, together in 1998) and divided between military, administrative and museum uses. A devastating fire in January 2003 destroyed a large part of the princely apartments and the chapel, triggering a vast restoration campaign led by the departmental council of Meurthe-et-Moselle and the state. The works, still in progress in 2021, are designed to restore the 'Lorrain Versailles' to its radiance, with a gradual reopening of restored spaces such as the guard room, the chapel or French gardens.
The gardens, originally designed by Yves des Hours (student of Le Nôtre) and enlarged by Stanislas, combine classical rigour and architectural fantasies. Among the remarkable elements are the Grand Canal, the Bosquets, and missing factories such as the Pêcherie or the Trèfle, the latter having inspired a replica at Sanssouci Palace in Prussia. Today, the 21-hectare estate, including the castle, gardens and municipal theatre, is a major visiting place, symbol of the Baroque heritage of Lorraine and the Enlightenment century.
The architecture of the castle, marked by the influence of Germain Boffrand (disciple of Hardouin-Mansart), is distinguished by its vestibule allowing the passage of the carriages, its classical facades with columns, and its richly decorated interiors. The Palatine chapel, a jewel of the castle with its angels carved by Barthélemy Guibal, illustrates the artistic climax of Leopold's reign. Despite the vicissitudes of history, the castle of Lunéville remains an exceptional testimony of the ambition of the Dukes of Lorraine and of the European cultural heritage of the eighteenth century.
Announcements
Please log in to post a review