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
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