The Château du Grand Chavanon, also known as the Château de Saint-Hubert, is a historic

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 ...

in Neuvy-sur-Barangeon,

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

, France.

History

The chateau was built for the Marquess of Borzas from 1893 to 1897. It was designed by architect Albert-Félix-Théophile Thomas. It was acquired by the Archbishop of

Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...

in 1935, and renovated by architect-monk

Paul Bellot Paul Louis Denis Bellot (7 June 1876 in Paris – 5 July 1944 in Montreal) was a French monk and modern architect. Biography He became an architect in 1900 having studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1902 he became a monk of the Benedic ...

from 1935 to 1937. The chateau was acquired by Centrafrican Emperor

Jean-Bédel Bokassa Jean-Bédel Bokassa (; 22 February 1921 – 3 November 1996), also known as Bokassa I, was a Central African political and military leader who served as the second president of the Central African Republic (CAR) and as the emperor of its s ...

in the 1970s. From 1986 to 1995, Bokassa rented it to the Cercle national des combattants, a veteran non-profit organization run by far-right politician

Roger Holeindre Roger Holeindre (21 March 1929 – 30 January 2020) was a French Army veteran, politician and author. He served in the First Indochina War and the Algerian War, was a member of the National Assembly (France), National Assembly from 1986 to 1988. H ...

. The Cercle acquired it from Bokassa in 1995. The chateau hosted the Cadets de France et d'Europe, a summer programme for conservative Catholic youth, until 1999. By the early 2000s, it hosted summer events for the youth wing of the National Front.

Architectural significance

It has been listed as an official historical monument 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, ...

since 31 July 2008.

References

Châteaux in Cher Houses completed in 1897 Monuments historiques of Centre-Val de Loire {{France-castle-stub