The Château de Thillombois is a Renaissance château significantly remodeled in the 19th century. The original château dates from the 12th century. Its size at the time was much larger than the current one that stands today. It was one of the largest medieval domains of the area, owned by a French noble family who also possessed, among others, the Château de Jarny, located in what is now known as Jarny in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. Heavily damaged in the 17th century during the Thirty years War, the château managed to retain a tower and a wing, while the surrounding villages were pillaged by Croats. restored by successive generations, emptied of all of its goods during the Reign of Terror, the castle found a new life in the 19th century when the heiress of the estate, the Countess d'Oryot-Apremont, married the Count of Nettancourt-Vaubécourt which then allowed a sufficient capital contribution to add a new main building and to restore the existing rooms around 1873.
The château remained within the Nettancourt-Vaubécourt family until 1961, where it was then acquired by the commune of Mantes-la-Ville into a summer camp center. The center fell into disuse in the 1980s. It was left to fate, until it was rented in the early 1990s by the Connaissance de la Meuse cultural association, who continued to make renovations and improvements. In 2010 the association became the official owner so that the château could remain in the public domain.
References:The stone church of Gamla Uppsala, built over the pagan temple, dates from the early 12th century. Due to fire and renovations, the present church is only a remnant of the original cathedral.
Before the arrival of Christianity in Sweden, Gamla Uppsala was the seat of Swedish kings and a ceremonial site known all over northern Europe. The settlement was home to royal palaces, a royal burial ground, and a great pagan temple. The Uppsala temple, which was described in detail by Adam of Bremen in the 1070s, housed wooden statues of the Norse gods Odin, Thor and Freyr. A golden chain hung across its gables and the inside was richly decorated with gold. The temple had priests, who sacrificed to the gods according to the needs of the people.
The first Christian cathedral was probably built in the 11th century, but finished in the 12th century. The stone building may have been preceded by a wooden church and probably by the large pagan temple.