The Château de Syam, located in the village of Syam in the

French department In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety-s ...

of Jura was built in 1818 by Jean-Emmanuel Jobez regional industrialist and owner of the Forges de Syam, a forge and sheet metal works. The castle was listed 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 ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, ...

in 1994.

Inspiration

Emmanuel Jobez lived in Paris for ten years where he met

Pierre-Adrien Pâris Pierre-Adrien Pâris (1745 - 1 August 1819) was a French architect, painter and designer. Biography Pâris was born at Besançon, the son of an architect and official surveyor at the court of the Prince-Bishop of Basel. He went to Paris to stu ...

, court architect to

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

and also a native of Jura. Both men embraced

Neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

and together toured Italy where they visited works designed by

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of th ...

. They returned impressed by classical architecture and its association with

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

philosophy.

Design

Emmanuel Jobez returned to Syam where he engaged the architect Champennois L'Aîne to build a château largely inspired by Palladio's

Villa La Rotonda Villa La Rotonda is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in northern Italy designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. The villa's correct name is Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, but it is also known as "La Rotonda", "Villa Rot ...

. Completed c. 1828, the square building is situated on a north–south, east–west axis and organized around a central three-story rotunda. The ground floor of the rotunda is used as a theater and concert hall. Decoration of the house includes polychrome painting, ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' murals in the eye of the dome, original wallpapers produced by Xavier Mader for the manufacturer

Joseph Dufour et Cie Joseph Dufour et Cie, founded in 1797 by Joseph and Pierre Dufour, was a French painted wallpaper and fabrics manufacturer () located in Mâcon, France. General In 1806, in collaboration with the artist Jean-Gabriel Charvet, Dufour et Cie produced ...

, candelabra and chandeliers by

Pierre-Philippe Thomire Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751–1843) a French sculptor, was the most prominent ''bronzier'', or producer of ornamental patinated and gilt-bronze objects and furniture mounts of the First French Empire. His fashionable neoclassical and Empire ...

, and original

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

and Restauration period furniture. The château remained in ownership of Jobez descendants until 2001 when the property was acquired by Brigitte Cannard and Claude Darbon who occupy a portion of the house and offer tours and concerts there.

References

*Boyers, Marie-France. "Belle de Jura." ''The World of Interiors.'' October 2008. *Gonzalez-Palacios, Alvar. ''The French Empire Style.'' Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd.: 1970. .

External links

Website of Château de SyamYoutube tour of the Château de Syam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Syam, Chateau De Châteaux in Jura (department) Historic house museums in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Tourist attractions in Jura (department) Museums in Jura (department)