Château d'Arc-en-Barrois is a

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, 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 re ...

Haute-Marne Haute-Marne (; English: Upper Marne) is a department in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. Named after the river Marne, its prefecture is Chaumont. In 2019, it had a population of 172,512.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 ...

History

The present château was built on the site of a castle that was destroyed in 1793 during the French Revolution. The

Arc-en-Barrois Arc-en-Barrois is a commune in the Haute-Marne department in the Grand Est region in northeastern France. The 18th-century French metallurgist and Encyclopédiste Étienne Jean Bouchu (1714–1773) died in Arc-en-Barrois. Geography The Aujon ...

area belonged in 1622 to Nicolas de L'Hospital, Duke of Vitry; it was bought in 1679 from his son by Count Morstein who ceded it in 1693 to

Louis Alexandre, Count of Toulouse Louis Alexandre de Bourbon (6 June 1678 – 1 December 1737), a Legitimacy (family law), legitimated prince of the blood royal, was the son of Louis XIV and of his mistress Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. At the age of five, he ...

, whose son

Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon (16 November 1725 – 4 March 1793) was the son of Louis Alexandre, Count of Toulouse, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon and his wife Marie Victoire de Noailles. He was therefore a grandson of Louis XIV of France and his ...

, inherited the estate. After the Revolution, in 1814 the estate was restored to the Duke of Penthièvre's daughter, Marie-Adélaïde de Bourbon, who in 1769 had married

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Louis Philippe Joseph; 13 April 17476 November 1793), was a French Prince of the Blood who supported the French Revolution. Louis Philippe II was born at the to Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, Louis Phi ...

. Their daughter

Princess Adélaïde of Orléans Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for t ...

inherited the estate and built the present château on the site of the old castle. In her will she left it to her godson,

François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville François d'Orléans, Prince de Joinville (14 August 1818 – 16 June 1900) was the third son of Louis Philippe I, Louis Philippe, List of French monarchs, King of the French, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. An admiral of t ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

the château became the

Hôpital Temporaire d'Arc-en-Barrois Hôpital Temporaire d'Arc-en-Barrois was an emergency evacuation hospital serving the 3rd Army Corps (France), French 3rd Army Corps during World War I. It was organised and staffed by British volunteers and served French soldiers. History Hôpit ...

, an emergency evacuation hospital for injured soldiers from the French 3rd Army Corps.

Architecture

The present château was built around 1845. The fabric of the main building and the grand staircase date from the time when Nicolas de L'Hospital owned the castle in the seventeenth century, but the house underwent major changes in the 1840s when it was rebuilt by Adelaide of Orleans. The front part of the house and the English-style

landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "Landscape architecture, landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, r ...

belong to this period. Furniture from the château may be marked ''feu: LB'' surmounted by a crown or ''ARC''.

Gallery

Image:Chateau Arc en Barrois 2.JPG, Entrance front Image:Chateau Arc en Barrois 1.JPG, Garden front Image:Château d'arc en barrois by ch.JPG, The roof

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arc-en-Barrois Châteaux in Haute-Marne Houses completed in 1845