Château du Pailly was built on the site of an older building dating back to the 13th century. That castle had a strategic position in the south of the Champagne region, close to Burgundy. It was ceded by the bishop of Langres to the Saulx family around 1530 and became a rare and emblematic example of the Renaissance in Champagne.
Gaspard de Saulx-Tavannes inherited the Château du Pailly from his father. In 1563, grieving the death of his eldest son, he turned the medieval fortress into a jewel of the Renaissance architecture, as he had been amazed by Italian palaces in his youth.
The Château du Pailly remained in the Saulx-Tavannes family until 1764. Several owners succeeded one another until Jean-François Moreau du Breuil bought it in 1821 and started to restore it. Today it is open to the public.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.