Chateaux of Grand Est

Château de la Cour des Prés

Château de la Cour des Prés was built in the early 16th century by Louis Martin. It was partially destroyed in the First World War and today in private use.
Founded: 16th century | Location: Rumigny, France

Château de Bignicourt-sur-Saulx

Château de Bignicourt-sur-Saulx is a Neoclassical Palladian style mansion built in 1807-1812 to the site of older castle. Today it is guest house.
Founded: 1807-1812 | Location: Bignicourt-sur-Saulx, France

Château de Montmort

The Château de Montmort is a stately home built on the site of a medieval castle in the commune of Montmort-Lucy. A castle existed as early as the 11th century and there is still evidence of its existence in the ramparts and ditches. The present buildings seem to date from the 16th century, the time of their reconstruction. The castle was the headquarters for Karl von Bülow"s German Second Army during the Fi ...
Founded: 16th century | Location: Montmort-Lucy, France

Château de Réveillon

Château de Réveillon is a Renaissance style mansion built in the early 17th century to the site of medieval castle. The U-shaped palace is surrounded by a moat and has large gardens. It was built by Claude II d"Ancienville The visit of Réveillon will lead you to discover its past. You will walk through the 18th century salons on the ground floor, the outbuildings including the remarkable dovecote classified as a ...
Founded: 1607-1617 | Location: Réveillon, France

Château de Vitry-la-Ville

Château de Vitry-la-Ville was built in 1608 by Hughes Mathé. The gardens were added in 1650 and two wings in 1723.
Founded: 1608 | Location: Vitry-la-Ville, France

Château de Pierry

Château de Pierry was built c. 1734 as a Gentilhommière (country retreat) for the count-bishop of Châlons-en-Champagne and peer of the realm, Monseigneur de Choiseul-Beaupré, whose personal history was intimately linked to the birth of Champagne wine itself. The chateau is named for the village of Pierry, south of Epernay (capital of Champagne wine), a place famous since the late 17th Century when a Benedictine c ...
Founded: 1734 | Location: Pierry, France

Château de Blâmont

The Château de Blâmont is a castle built at the end of the 13th century in the French commune of Blâmont, in the département of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It underwent successive alterations and extensions in the 13th, 14th and 17th centuries which have made it one of the most beautiful medieval castle ruins in Lorraine, thanks to the preservation of five towers. Despite heavy damage by American bombardment in 1944, the bu ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Blamont, France

Château Comtesse Lafond

Château Comtesse Lafond is situated in Epernay, on the prestigious Avenue de Champagne and whose symbol of quality and elegance matches the prestigious cuvées dedicated to Comtesse Lafond, ancestor of Baron Patrick de Ladoucette. Historically known as Chateau de Pékin, Chateau Comtesse Lafond is a majestic and unique site that has been honoring wine-making tradition since the 19th century. Franz Xaver Winterhalter (18 ...
Founded: 19th century | Location: Épernay, France

Château de Louvois

Château de Louvois was originally built in the 13th century, but underwent substantial renovation following its acquisition by the young Marquis de Louvois. He entirely rebuilt the property, replacing the medieval chateau with a grand and gracious residence boasting some of the finest gardens to be seen anywhere in 17th century France. Behind the chateau, a succession of parterre gardens extended all the way to a U-shape ...
Founded: 17th century | Location: Louvois, France

Château de Doumely

Doumely Castle is a 15th-century fortified castle that dominates the countryside of Porcien, situated in the commune of Doumely-Bégny. The castle was fully restored at the end of the 20th century by its current owner, who had acquired the castle in complete ruins. The structure bears witness to the transformations that successive occupants have made to the castle: filling of the ditches, openings in the façade, dest ...
Founded: 15th century | Location: Doumely-Bégny, France

Château de Gombervaux

Château de Gombervaux, lies in the countryside north of the town of Vaucouleurs. It was built between 1338 and 1357 by the knight Geoffroy de Nancy, who had gotten the fief from Philip VI of France. It served as a border post for the Duchy of Lorraine. Already in 1363 the castle was besieged for 6 days by Count Henri V de Vaudémont with the help of English soldiers. In 1367 a big banquet, prepared by Taillevent, was ...
Founded: 1338-1357 | Location: Vaucouleurs, France

Château de Brugny

Château de Brugny was documented first time in 1223 and the square tower dates from that age. The moat, two wings and two corner towers date from the Middle Ages. Château de Brugny has never been sold and moved to the other families only by inheritance. Today it still privately owned.
Founded: 13th century | Location: Brugny-Vaudancourt, France

Château de Vaudémont

The Château de Vaudémont is a ruined 11th-century castle. At its greatest extent the castle measures about 500 by 250 metres. The castle is one of a group of four castles built around the same time on highland sites along the Moselle valley between Nancy and Metz in northeast France. The other three castles are Dieulouard, Mousson, and Prény; of the four, Château de Vaudémont is the largest and best preserved. It wa ...
Founded: 11th century | Location: Vaudémont, France

Château de Louppy-sur-Loison

Château de Louppy-sur-Loison present remains date back to a castle built in the 13th or 14th century. It was built on an elevated piece of land in a loop formed by the Loison river. Originally the feudal castle had a quadrilateral ground plan with circular towers at its corners. It had a deep moat which was fed by the Loison. The castle was abandoned and fell to ruin later and Simon II de Pouilly built a new Louppy-sur- ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Louppy-sur-Loison, France

Château de Boursault

The Château de Boursault is a neo-Renaissance château in Boursault, Marne. It was built between 1843 and 1850 by Madame Clicquot Ponsardin, the Veuve Clicquot (Cliquot Widow) who owned the Veuve Clicquot champagne house. It was sold by her heir to the Berry family of Canada from 1913 to 1927 and was used as a military hospital in both the first and second world wars. Today the Château de Boursault brand of champagne ...
Founded: 1843-1850 | Location: Boursault, France

Château de Landreville

Château de Landreville was built in the early 13th century and remodelled in the middle of the 16th century. It is a rectangular 'maison forte' (strong house) flanked by four cylindrical towers with 'pepper-pot' roofs, surrounded by water-filled moats, with a six hectares park, stables and two pavilions. It is a rare example of a still practically intact manorial residence of the pre-Renaissance Ard ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Bayonville, France

Château de Pierrefort

The Château de Pierrefort is a ruined mediaeval castle in the commune of Martincourt. It was built in 1306. In 1300, Pierre de Bar, younger son (among 13 siblings) of Theobald II, Count of Bar, received from his older brother Henri III de Bar among other estates, the lands of Martincourt and Mamey.
Founded: 1306 | Location: Martincourt, France

Château de Lamecourt

Château de Lamecourt was built in the 16th century. It consists of moat, main building and wings and is surrounded by a park.
Founded: 16th century | Location: Rubécourt-et-Lamécourt, France

Château de Juvigny

Château de Juvigny was built in 1702-1705. It is surrounded by moat and large 18 hectare park.
Founded: 1702-1705 | Location: Juvigny, France

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Monte d'Accoddi

Monte d"Accoddi is a Neolithic archaeological site in northern Sardinia, located in the territory of Sassari. The site consists of a massive raised stone platform thought to have been an altar. It was constructed by the Ozieri culture or earlier, with the oldest parts dated to around 4,000–3,650 BC.

The site was discovered in 1954 in a field owned by the Segni family. No chambers or entrances to the mound have been found, leading to the presumption it was an altar, a temple or a step pyramid. It may have also served an observational function, as its square plan is coordinated with the cardinal points of the compass.

The initial Ozieri structure was abandoned or destroyed around 3000 BC, with traces of fire found in the archeological evidence. Around 2800 BC the remains of the original structure were completely covered with a layered mixture of earth and stone, and large blocks of limestone were then applied to establish a second platform, truncated by a step pyramid (36 m × 29 m, about 10 m in height), accessible by means of a second ramp, 42 m long, built over the older one. This second temple resembles contemporary Mesopotamian ziggurats, and is attributed to the Abealzu-Filigosa culture.

Archeological excavations from the chalcolithic Abealzu-Filigosa layers indicate the Monte d"Accoddi was used for animal sacrifice, with the remains of sheep, cattle, and swine recovered in near equal proportions. It is among the earliest known sacrificial sites in Western Europe.

The site appears to have been abandoned again around 1800 BC, at the onset of the Nuragic age.

The monument was partially reconstructed during the 1980s. It is open to the public and accessible by the old route of SS131 highway, near the hamlet of Ottava. It is 14,9 km from Sassari and 45 km from Alghero. There is no public transportation to the site. The opening times vary throughout the year.