Château de Pontchartrain

The Château de Pontchartrain (French pronunciation: [ʃato də pɔ̃ʃaʁtʁɛ̃]) is mainly in the municipality of Jouars-Pontchartrain within Yvelines, in the west of the Île de France region of France.

The west end of its domain (a throwback term for grounds equivalent to demesne: a personal estate of a manorial lord) beyond its ornamental lake named the Étang du Château de Pontchartrain extends into the commune to the west, Le Tremblay-sur-Mauldre. The bulk of the building is two massive wings built in the mid-seventeenth century, by order of owner Louis I Phélypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, who was elevated in nobility and in ministerial rank to Chancellor of France.

Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana was named after him as well as the historic Hotel Pontchartrain in New Orleans, as was Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit in Michigan (the site of modern-day Detroit) and Detroit's Hotel Pontchartrain. The main building includes a gallery, dated to between 1598 and 1609, providing communication between the two wings. Later additions include a late 19th century pavilion.

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

Château de Pontchartrain ranks #4,225 of 8,764 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #339 of the 675 mapped in France. Founded 1598, it is older than 34% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 827 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,574 times in the last 60 days, more than 62% of the atlas. 21 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Paris, 34 km away. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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