The château de Craon, also known as the château d'Haroué or palais d'Haroué is a French
château
A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions.
Nowaday ...
located in a small valley in the centre of the village of
Haroué
Haroué () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.
Geography
The river Madon flows through the commune.
Historical Features
The Château d'Haroué was constructed between 1720 and 1732 by Germain Boffrand for ...
, in the
Saintois, in the département of
Meurthe-et-Moselle
Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a department in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. It had a population of 733,760 in 2019.[Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...]
. It was built between 1720 and 1732 by
Germain Boffrand
Germain Boffrand () (16 May 1667 – 19 March 1754) was a French architect. A pupil of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Germain Boffrand was one of the main creators of the precursor to Rococo called the '' style Régence'', and in his interiors, of the ...
during the period when Lorraine was independent of France, for
Marc de Beauvau, prince de Craon, viceroy of
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze'').
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
and constable of Lorraine.
Surprisingly, the architect had to integrate into his plans the four towers and moat of an older medieval château, a consideration for medieval buildings which was unusual for the classicist period. Le château's design also symbolises a year :
* 365 windows,
* 52 fireplaces,
* 12 towers (several included in the buildings),
* 4 bridges crossing the moat.
The decoration was largely entrusted to artists from Lorraine :
Jean Lamour
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* J ...
(1698–1771) for the gates, balconies and staircases, Pillement (1698–1771) for the painted decoration of one of the towers,
Barthélemy Guibal (1699–1757), sculptor of the fountains of
place Stanislas
Place Stanislas is a large pedestrianised square in the French city of Nancy, in the Lorraine historic region. Built between 1752 and 1756 on the orders of Stanisław Leszczyński, the square is one of oldest examples of an architecturally consis ...
at
Nancy, for the statuary. The park "à la française" was designed by
Emilio Terry Emilio Rene Terry y Sánchez (1890–1969), known as Emilio Terry was a French architect, artist, interior decorator and landscape designer of Cuban-Irish ancestry. Creating furniture, tapestries and objets d'art, he was influenced by the château d ...
.
It has since been lived in by the descendants of
Marc de Beauvau.
The château was classified as a
monument historique
''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
in 1983.
Notes
External links
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haroue, Chateau
Châteaux in Meurthe-et-Moselle
Monuments historiques of Grand Est
Gardens in Meurthe-et-Moselle
Historic house museums in Grand Est
Museums in Meurthe-et-Moselle