We were on our local road warrior mode a while back in my woody nice Dampierre en Yvelines, briefly do not know why not more pictures but anyhow will do this post in my black and white series, no pictures, The town is in a huge park with many nice properties, This is a property with lots of history and still doing work with expos to be open to the public ; off the beaten path and worth the detour, me think,, For reference, the town of Dampierre en Yvelines is in dept 78 of the Yvelines in the Île de France region of my belle France, Therefore, let me tell you a bit on this is Dampierre en Yvelines !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I
The town of Dampierre-en-Yvelines is 42 km from Paris, in the Chevreuse valley, between Versailles at 20 km , and Rambouillet at 16 km. It is about 444 km from my current home, It is a town in the regional natural park of the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse. The main traffic axis which crosses the town is the road D 91 which leads to Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and Versailles and Cernay-la-Ville. The road from Chevreuse, is the D 58 which continues its route to towards Lévis-Saint-Nom and beyond to Élancourt.
The Château de Dampierre presents a raised ground floor between the floor of the offices and the attic, on the side of the village is an entrance pavilion, equipped with a bridge and two corner turrets with gunboats holes on the side of the gardens, at the offices, the house is extended by porticos interrupted by three pavilions and developed around a flowerbed; They are part of a large network of channels, created in 1555. Walls and intermediate courses made it possible to visually distance the stables from the main house at the left anterior angle of the castle, it shows arcs and pilasters in the classic Renaissance style which crown the old turret of a elegant belvedere and punctuate a palladium window on the contiguous pavilion. At the bottom of this turret is an oven, represented on a detail, which seems to be a reproduction of a drawing of the Primatice which undoubtedly contributed to these embellishments of 1578-1657 , A main building called the Astrée, as named because it is decorated with paintings inspired by the novel L’Astrée d’Honoré d’Urfé, is backed by a wing of dependencies. We find in this wing of the castle a cabinet of curiosities including an impressive collection of meteorites rediscovered in 2018. At the same time, there was at the end of the pond an island animated by five pavilions where the famous duchess of Chevreuse, liked to withdraw, born Marie de Rohan. The new wing of the stables was set up in 1685. At the end of 1688, the decorations on the spot stucco chimneys inspired by the Italian Renaissance, two of which remain on the first floor , After the works of Hardouin-Mansart, the main body of the castle is enlarged, raised and made more homogeneous, with a more rational distribution, Between 1742 and 1743, Duke Charles Philippe d’Albert de Luynes had the five pavilions of the island replaced by new covered buildings ” Italian style “. The principal of these pavilions alone subsistent; It was adorned with woodwork richly carved with medallions on the theme of hunting and music trophies, which were raised around 1850 in the large living room of the castle, but without their supporting paneling. In 1758, the castle received a wrought iron gate ,and in 1765, the 5th Duc Marie-Charles-Louis of Albert de Luynes built an orangery at the end of the Astrée and the neighboring wing of the outbuildings, in which he has bosses and female mascarons from the 16C, still in place. From 1839, it was restored the large ceremonial room on the first floor gained there in height and in lighting thanks to a “lantern” taken between two double arcs and two curved walls in the center of a ceiling. Two stands are set up at its two ends, supported by caryatids who copy, with the polychromy in addition, those discovered in Rome in the villa of Herod Atticus ,The decor of the vestibule of the Grand Staircase of Honor is revised in 1840-1841, and in 1842, one of the lounges on the ground floor is decorated to receive a silver Louis XIII statue on a superb bronze pedestal.
A bit on the history of the domaine/castle tell us that is was built on the site of a mansion built in the 13C for a younger man’. Burned during the jacquerie of 1358, it was restored under Louis XI , and later acquired in 1528 by Jean Duval, notary and secretary of the king, who became a treasurer of the savings of François Ier, who enlarged the lordship and the pond, and modernized the manor. On February 16, 1551, Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, archbishop of Reims and Duke of Chevreuse, acquired Dampierre. Under the Duke Claude de Lorraine , younger son of Henri Ier de Guise, Duke of Guise , In 1663, the castle went to Louis Charles d’Albert de Luynes, 2nd Duke of Luynes, son from the first marriage of the Duchess de Chevreuse with Charles d’Albert 1er Duke of Luynes, constable of France, favorite of King Louis XIII. The castle will therefore stay in the Maison Albert.It is located in a large park designed by André Le Nôtre, the place where the Kings Louis XIV and Louis XV stayed, and was the property of the family of Albert de Luynes, Duke of Chevreuse, from 1663 to 2018, From 1675 the Duke of Chevreuse, Charles Honoré d’Albert de Luynes, son-in-law of the controller general of the finance of Louis XIV Jean-Baptiste Colbert, undertakes to modernize Dampierre and appealed to Jules Hardouin-Mansart who became the first architect of the king in 1681. During the French revolution, Joseph Charles Amable, sixth Duke of Luynes and his wife do not emigrate; In 1793, he was arrested but released at the request of the villagers, he returned to the castle where he will no longer be worried and managed to cross this troubled period in his library, which he had notably enriched. His wife Guyonne de Montmorency created a printing workshop in Dampierre, active during the last years of the 18C. In 2018, Philippe d’Albert de Luynes, 13th Duke of the name, goes to live in the eponymous family castle of Val-de-Loire and sells that of Dampierre, another ancestral home, to Franky Mulliez, a member of the rich Mulliez family with the association familiale Mulliez (AFM), The site has been open to the public since 2019 . Since 2022, spaces have been offered for business rental.
Some other things to see in town are the Church Saint-Pierre parish from the 10C, church since the 13C, The Maison de Fer or iron house located on rue Pierreuse, made at the end of the 19C and presented at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 In Paris, it was fully removable, the model exposed in Dampierre is the one used as a premises for the exhibition ticket office. The movie L’Aile ou la Cuisse or wing or the thigh is a French comic film directed by Claude Zidi, released in 1976 with main actors, Louis de Funés, Coluche, and Julien Guiomar, One of our favorite movies,
A bit of history on the town tell us that in the 12C, Amauri de Chevreuse (son of Guy, lord of Chevreuse), was lord of Dampierre, and in the 14C, Simon, Ansel, Jean de Chevreuse were lords of Dampierre with several family exchanges continued ,until the 17C, Marie de Rohan, Duchess de Chevreuse , widow of Claude de Lorraine-Guise, sold the Duchy of Chevreuse to her son Louis-Charles d’Albert, Duke of Luynes (from a first marriage). Towards the end of the 17C, the old castle having been demolished and Charles-Honoré d’Albert de Luynes, Duke of Chevreuse, grandson of Marie de Rohan, had the current Château de Dampierre built, The rest see above on the castle.
The official Château de Dampierre en Yvelines : https://www.domaine-dampierre.com/
The town of Dampierre en Yvelines on the castle : https://www.mairie-dampierre-yvelines.fr/chateau-dampierre-yvelines/
The île de France region tourist office on the Domaine Castle of Dampierre en Yvelines : https://www.visitparisregion.com/en/domain-of-dampierre-en-yvelines
The Parc Naturel Régional Haute Vallée de Chevreuse on the Domaine de Dampierre : https://www.parc-naturel-chevreuse.fr/domaine-de-dampierre
There you go folks, this is quant pretty woody Dampierre en Yvelines, a nice ride in my memorable Yvelines. The castle/domaine here is a must to see for the history of France, I am looking forward to see it again, eventually, This is a wonderful nice area and town, that is worth the detour , me think, Again, hope you enjoy the post on this is Dampierre en Yvelines !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 