Château

English translation

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History

In 1505, a castle was built on older substructions, giving it its present appearance as a Renaissance residence. In 1674, the land of Maintenon became the property of Mme Scaron, future marquise de Maintenon. She had a new wing constructed and commissioned Le Nôtre to lay out the canal, parterres and park at the far end of which passes the aqueduct intended to convey the waters of the Eure to Versailles. After Mme de Maintenon, the property passed to the family of Noailles. Around 1855, the façades of the main dwelling were transformed as well as certain rooms and galleries to be brought into the taste of the period. The park became a landscape garden with, as decoration, the ruins of the aqueduct. Built on an island, the castle presents a square plan comprising a central building reserved for habitation and two wings in return. A curtain wall, demolished in the 17th century to open up the view over the parterres, closed the fourth side. At the angles of the buildings rise towers, one of which, of larger square plan, served as a keep. In front of the castle extended the outer court with its outbuildings, and a large chapel of the 15th and 16th centuries. To the west of the Eure were found large outbuildings with a dovecote and regular gardens.