The Château de Bity is a

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 ...

Sarran Sarran (; oc, Serran) is a commune in the Corrèze department in central France. It is the home of the Jacques Chirac presidential museum. Population See also *Communes of the Corrèze department The following is a list of the 279 com ...

Corrèze Corrèze (; oc, Corresa) is a department in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, ...

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by t ...

, France.

History

The château was re-built in the 17th century after it burned down in 1579. In 1925, it was acquired by William Noel Lucas-Shadwell, a British intelligence officer.Trotski chez Chirac
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Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Histor ...

'', June 8, 2001 In 1934–1935, he invited

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

to the castle. During World War II, it was a hiding place for members of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

,Philippe Madelin, ''Jacques Chirac : Une biographie'', Paris: Flammarion, 2002, p. 180 and later served as a hospital. In 1969, it was acquired by

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...

, who went on to serve as president of France from 1995 to 2007.Jacques et Bernadette Chirac: leur vie intime à Bity
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Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush *''Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman *GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups *''Gala'', a 1986 album by Th ...

'', August 15, 2014 He invited then president of China

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pres ...

to the castle in October 1999.Nathalie Perez
Visite Jiang Zemin en France
''

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...

'', October 23, 1999,

Institut national de l'audiovisuel The (abbrev. INA), () is a repository of all French radio and television audiovisual archives. Additionally it provides free access to archives of countries such as Afghanistan and Cambodia. It has its headquarters in Bry-sur-Marne. Since 200 ...

In July 2012, he hosted

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

, who was the current French president.François Hollande au château de Bity à Sarran pour rencontrer Jacques Chirac
'' La Voix du Nord'', July 21, 2012

Architectural significance

The château was listed as an official monument in 1969.

References

Castles in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Monuments historiques of Nouvelle-Aquitaine Jacques Chirac {{France-castle-stub