The Château du Champ-de-Bataille, 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 ...

located in the

Eure Eure ( ; ; or ) is a department in the administrative region of Normandy, northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2021, Eure had a population of 598,934.French region France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collectivities, which hav ...

Upper Normandy Upper Normandy (, ; ) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Upper and Lower Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy. History It was created in 1956 from two departments: Seine-Maritime and Eure, when Norm ...

. It's a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

château lying between the communes of Neubourg and Sainte-Opportune-du-Bosc, and in the ''Campagne du Neubourg'', between the river

Risle The Risle (; less common: ''Rille'') is a long river in Normandy, left tributary of the Seine. The river begins in the Orne department west of L'Aigle, crosses the western part of the department of Eure flowing from south to north and out into ...

to the west and the river

Iton The Iton () is a Rivers of France, river in Normandy, France, left tributary of the river Eure (river), Eure. It is long. Its source is near Moulins-la-Marche. For about 10 km between Orvaux and Glisolles, it disappears and pursues a subter ...

to the east. It was built in the 17th century for the Maréchal de Créqui.

History

In 1650 Alexandre de Créquy-Bernieulle (1628–1703) was arrested and exiled to the provinces by

Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...

. He built the Château du Champ-de-Bataille between 1653 and 1665. After the arrest the château was the home of the "de Merendonque" family. During the French Revolution, the château was stormed and the furniture was sold throughout France. (french) It was the seat of the Dukes d'Harcourt (of the

House of Harcourt The House of Harcourt is a Norman family, and named after its seigneurie of Harcourt in Normandy. Its mottos were "Gesta verbis praeveniant" (Olonde branch), "Gesta verbis praevenient" (Beuvron branch), and "Le bon temps viendra ... de Franc ...

) until the head of the family sold it in 1983. The Harcourt family bought it in 1754, they were forced to sell it after the French Revolution but they re-bought the ''Château'' later. As of 2025, it's owned by interior designer

Jacques Garcia Jacques Garcia (born 25 September 1947) is a French architect, interior designer and garden designer, best known for his contemporary interiors of Paris hotels and restaurants. He is the current owner of the Château du Champ-de-Bataille, a Baro ...

who purchased it in 1992.

The Gardens

The

French formal garden The French formal garden, also called the , is a style of "Landscape architecture, landscape" garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order on nature. Its epitome is generally considered to be the Gardens of Versailles designed ...

was created from 1992 by Garcia. It was inspired by sketches of the original garden, long vanished, which showed the placement of the great terrace, the broderies and bosquets, and the proportions of the squares of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

and

Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), ...

. These features were scrupulously reproduced, while the new features of the garden took their "measure and tone" from the original model.See the description of the garden on the site of the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the Ministry of Culture of France The garden is listed by the French Ministry of Culture as one of 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 ...

References

External links

Château du Champ de Bataille
(French)

at the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the French Ministry of Culture

blog article in French with many photos, including aerial views of the grounds
Château du Champ-de-Bataille
YouTube video by Erik Conover touring the property {{DEFAULTSORT:Champ De Bataille Châteaux in Eure Gardens in Eure Museums in Eure Historic house museums in Normandy