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Palace

Château de Flaugergues

France · 17th century

Founded
1696
Heritage status
monument historique inscrit · classified historical monument
Location
Montpellier
Coordinates
43.61028°, 3.92°
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Château de Flaugergues in France
Photo: Vpe · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

Located on the territory of the French city of Montpellier close to the Mediterranean Sea, the château de Flaugergues is a "Folie of Montpellier" built in 1696. Listed as a Monument historique, it now belongs to the count and countess of Colbert. It is the center of a winery and can be visited all year round.

The folies in the region were constructed by members of the local gentry at the end of the 17th century and during the 18th century. In 1696, Etienne de Flaugergues, member of the local financial Court, bought a piece of land and built the mansion which henceforth carried his name. It took him 45 years to give the castle its current appearance. From then on, Flaugergues became an example for the various other folies constructed by noble families surrounding Montpellier.

In 1811, the Boussairolles family inherited the estate, and the baron Charles Joseph de Boussairoles designed the orangerie and the park in English garden style in 1850. Inherited by generations of nobles, it still gives an idea of the life of the French nobility from the 17th to the 21st century.

The castle, the gardens, the wineyard, the archives and the furniture are listed Monument historique since 1986.

It is not so much the building itself as the use that is made of the area surrounding it that makes Flaugergues interesting architecturally speaking. The architect is not known, but it is certain that multiple people worked on the estate between 1696 and 1730. Much use is made of the difference in terrain level, creating separate spaces within the garden, and making the mansion look grander than it in fact is.

The façade is cut in half by a doorway with Doric pilasters, carrying an entablature with rose sculpted metopes. The different levels of the house are emphasized by bands, which was fashionable in the 17th century. The large windows give the first level an air of importance, while the back wall of the building is almost blind.

The most striking part of Flaugergues is the interior, with the staircase taking up almost one-third of it. Every floor is served by this staircase with its characteristic hanging key vaults and wrought iron banisters.

In the staircase is displayed a serie of tapestries from Flanders made in 1670 depicting scenes from the life of Moses.

Text adapted from “Château de Flaugergues” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Château de Flaugergues ranks #5,378 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #475 of the 787 mapped in France. Founded 1696, it is older than 22% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 710 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,149 times in the last 60 days, more than 54% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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