We were on our local road warrior mode a while back in my woody nice Dampierre en Yvelines,I found again in my cd rom vault more recent pictures that need to be in my blog for you and me, 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 the Château de Dampierre en Yvelines ,part I !!! 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. You can make in public transports but never done it, take the RER B gare de Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse from the airport CDG and Paris on line U gare de La Verrière from La Défense.
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. It was owned by the Albert de Luynes family from 1663 to 2018. In 2018, Philippe d’Albert de Luynes, the 13th Duke of the same name, moved to the eponymous family château in the Loire Valley and sold the Château Dampierre to Franky Mulliez, a member of the Mulliez family and principal of the Mulliez Family Association (owns many French brands). The park reopened to the public on March 30, 2019, The castle has undergone an extensive renovation that will last until Summer 2025 ,however, still open,
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 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 the Château of Dampierre en Yvelines ,part I !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 