The Château de Marqueyssac (), known simply as Marqueyssac, is a 17th-century château with notable gardens located at Vézac, in the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

department in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The château was built at the end of the 17th century by Bertrand Vernet de Marqueyssac, Counsellor to King

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, on cliffs overlooking the Dordogne Valley. The original ''jardin à la française'' was attributed to a pupil of

André Le Nôtre André Le Nôtre (; 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700), originally rendered as André Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed Gardens ...

, and featured terraces, alleys, and a kitchen garden surrounding the château.

History

Between 1830 and 1840,

Julien Bessières Henri Géraud Julien, Chevalier Bessières et de l'Empire (30 July 1777, Gramat, Lot – 30 July 1840, Paris) was a French scientist and diplomat. He was a cousin of marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières and Bertrand Bessières. Life He was a me ...

constructed a chapel and a grand alley one hundred metres long for horseback rides. In the 1860s, the new owner, Julien de Cerval, began to plant thousands of

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box and boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost So ...

trees – today there are over 150,000 – and had them carved in fantastic shapes, many in groups of rounded shapes like flocks of sheep. He also added linden trees,

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. The word ''cypress'' ...

trees, and

stone pine The Italian stone pine, botanical name ''Pinus pinea'', also known as the Mediterranean stone pine is a tree from the pine family (''Pinaceae''). The tree is native to the Mediterranean region, occurring in Southern Europe and the Levant. The ...

from Italy, and introduced the

cyclamen ''Cyclamen'' ( or ) is a genus of 23 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. In English, it is known by the common names sowbread or swinebread. ''Cyclamen'' species are native to Europe and the Mediterranean Basin ea ...

from Naples.Allain and Christiany, pg. 593 Following the romantic style, he built rustic structures, redesigned the parterres, and laid out five kilometres of walks. In the second half 20th century the house was rarely occupied and the gardens were not well maintained. Beginning in 1996, a new owner, Kléber Rossillon, restored the gardens to their old character and added some new features including an alley of

santolina ''Santolina'' is a genus of plants in the chamomile tribe within the sunflower family, primarily from the western Mediterranean region. They are small evergreen shrubs growing tall. The leaves are simple and minute in some species, or pinnate ...

and

rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers. It is a member of the sage family, Lamiaceae. The species is native to the Mediterranean r ...

and, in the romantic spirit of the 19th century, a course of water descending from the

belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa * Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco * Belvedere, Harare, Zi ...

and ending in a cascade. The gardens were opened to the public in 1996. Since 1997, the gardens have been classified amongst the

Notable Gardens of France The Remarkable Gardens of France is intended to be a list and description, by region, of the more than three hundred gardens classified as ''"Jardins remarquables"'' by the Ministry of Culture (France), Ministry of Culture and the Comi ...

by the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

. In spring 2025 The New York Times panel selected it as one of the 25 best gardens in the world

References

Bibliography

*Yves-Marie Allain and Janine Christiany, ''L'art des jardins en Europe'', Citadelle & Mazenod Publishers, Paris, 2006.

External links

Listing on the site of the Committee of Parks and Gardens of France
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marqueyssac, Chateau de Marqueyssac Marqueyssac