The Château de Vizille is a castle in the French town of

Vizille Vizille (; ) is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. Population Sights Vizille is the home of the Musée de la Révolution française, a rich depository of archival and rare materials devoted to the French Revolution ...

near

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

. It is one of the most prestigious and important castles of the

Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was ...

Region. Traditionally, from the 14th century, the Dauphiné was the homeland of the inheritor of the French throne. Today the Château de Vizille houses the

Musée de la Révolution française The Musée de la Révolution française (Museum of the French Revolution) is a departments of France, departmental museum in the French town of Vizille, south of Grenoble on the Route Napoléon. It is the only museum in the world dedicated to the ...

History

The former castle was held during the

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...

by the

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. With the peace settlement in 1593, the property was bought by the leader of the Protestant Army,

François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; ...

. From 1604 till 1619 the Duke, who became a Peer and the last

Grand Constable of France The Constable of France (, from Latin for 'count of the stables') was lieutenant to the King of France, the first of the original five Great Officers of the Crown (along with seneschal, chamberlain, butler, and chancellor) and the commander-in- ...

, had his castle built to highlight his important role in the French court. The castle is surrounded by a wall of seven kilometers in length.

The Château in the French Revolution

In 1780 the Duke of Villeroy, Gabriel Louis de Neufville, sold the Chateau de Vizille and areas around it to

Claude Perier Claude-Nicolas Perier (28 May 1742 – 6 February 1801) was assured an important place in French history when he opened his Château de Vizille near Grenoble to the famous meeting of the estates of the province of Dauphiné (21 July 1788) heraldin ...

for approximately 1,0254,000 livres. About a decade later, Claude had over 400 workers at the Château creating printed cotton. This building would end up playing an important role in the beginning of the French Revolution. May 1788 King Louis XVI decided to set a boundary on the amount of power of the Parliament of Dauphiné in

. The Parliament openly expressed how dissatisfied they were with this decision and on June 7, 1788 they were not allowed to meet together. In return, the inhabitants of

threw tiles from the roofs onto the King's Guard. This event is known as "Tile Day" or "

Day of the Tiles The Day of the Tiles () was an event that took place in the French town of Grenoble on 7 June 1788. It was one of the first disturbances preceding the French Revolution and is credited by a few historians as its start. Background Various econo ...

" in

. In July,

, inspired by all of the Liberal ideas around him, invited delegates from the

Clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, the

Nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

and the Third-Estate, to assemble the meeting, which had been previously prohibited in

, in the room of the ''Jeu de Paume'' of the castle. Almost 500 men gathered that day at the banquet hosted by Claude Périer. In attendance there were many "notables" including churchmen, businessmen, doctors, notaries, municipal officials, lawyers, and

landed nobility Landed nobility or landed aristocracy is a category of nobility in the history of various countries, for which landownership was part of their noble privileges. The landed nobility show noblesse oblige, they have duty to fulfill their social resp ...

. This event is known as the

Assembly of Vizille The Assembly of Vizille () or Estates General of Dauphiné () was the result of a meeting of various representatives in Grenoble. Its purpose was to discuss the events of The Day of the Tiles, one of the first revolts preceding the French Revol ...

. Demanded at this meeting: the Convocation in Paris of the Estates-General, where the

Third Estate The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...

has double representation and where votes are by head, not by order. This meeting marked the first portion of the French Revolution. It also allowed Claude Périer and most of his family to live through the tough periods of the French Revolution without harm.

The Château as a Monument

One of the owners Adolphe-Joseph-Scipion Perier, son of Augustin Perier was married to a granddaughter of General Lafayette. The Perier family owned it until 1895, during which time the castle itself was made a

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 collection of buildings, ...

in 1862. In 1924 the castle became the property of the French State and in 1973 the castle was given by the French government to the Community Council of Isere.

The Park

The castle park has a total of of space, and is the most popular site in the

Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.

department with visitors in 2008.Summary of visitors of Sites and Museum in the Isère Region (french)
The park was classified as a historic monument on 23 August 1991. The design of the park dates from the 19th century.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vizille, Chateau De Châteaux in Isère Gardens in Isère Monuments historiques of Isère