Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Chateau d'Anet

Beautiful picnic, right? but check out the background. The Chateau d'Anet in Normany was originally built for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress to Henri II in the early 16th century as a gift from the king on the land of her former husband's estate. Interestingly enough, she was 20 years his senior, talk about cougars!Her remains were laid to rest in the chapel on the estate after her death in 1566 but were later removed during the revolution. The original grave can be seen below. While the chateau escaped being pilaged and burned during the french revolution, the estate's entire contents were put up for sale. Later, most of the chateau was torn down with interesting pieces being salvaged to be put into the famous Ecole des Beaux-Arts. After World War II these elements were given back to the chateau. the chapel on the estate
The chateau was faithfully restored first in the 1840s by the Comte Adolphe de Caraman and later in the 1860s by Ferdinand Moreau who also began to collect items originally belonging to the chateau. Moreau's family still own and live on the estate but it can be toured. In 1851 it was declared a historical monument. The main dining room, seen in the 2 photos above, is really spectacular. Beautiful paneling with tons of gilding. However, the part of the chateau I really love is in the caretakers 'cottage'. The dining room housed there is less grand, but equally as elegant.
The doors opening to the garden really make the room for me. The paneling isn't bad either!
Even the ceiling is interesting with a polychromed treatment.
I thought the flowers below, gathered from the estate were just icing on the cake. To see more pictures of the estate and also pictures of an event there, please visit New York Social Diary
Visit the official website of the Chateau HERE for visiting times and prices.
Pictures from Classic Entertaining by Henrietta Spencer-Churchill and Flickr.com

13 comments:

Karena said...

Beautiful post Stephan. I loved hearing and seeing the historical story and images about this fabulous estate,

MIMILEE said...

Stephan, what an interesting post! I learned alot! THANKS!

Scott Fazzini said...

Is it for sale? I was thinking about investing in a new summer home. ; )

Unknown said...

I like the red dining room.
Please write me a comment:

http://www.ginanews05.blogspot.com/

Gina from Germany

Renée Finberg said...

I have ONE QUESTION,
Why can't I meet a guy to build me a lovely little
castle ??
HMMMMMM ????

Paul Pincus said...

terrific post! i love that chapel. it's perfection.

ArchitectDesign™ said...

I'm glad you all loved it as much as me! I was particularly struck by that chapel too, Paul- it's so unusual!
Renee & Scott, I think we'll have to build our own castles, LOL- unless you know any kings??

pve design said...

Again, you are a wonderful tour guide and host. The picnic was wonderful too.

Unknown said...

Hello Stephan! I came by to Thank you for the comment you left for me & instead I find this magnificent piece of heaven! What a beautiful post and stunning chateau. I'm in love! I've long been a fan of beautiful historical places! I'll have to put this on my list of places to go! Thank you for the gorgeous post!
xoxo
Judith~

Roberto Zaghi said...

Wonderful images, thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

i agree your idea ! very nice blog

Habitually Chic said...

God that is gorgeous!

Unknown said...

wow!