Château de Flaugergues

Montpellier, France

The Château de Flaugergues is one of many follies erected by wealthy merchants surrounding the city. The castle preserves antique furniture and collection of Flemish tapestries.

The follies in the region were constructed by aristocrats serving the French king. In 1696, Etienne de Flaugergues, member of the Cour des Comptes, bought a piece of land and built which henceforth carried his name. It took him 45 years to give the existing house its current appearance. From then on, Flaugergues became an example for the various other follies constructed by wealthy merchants surrounding Montpellier.

In 1811, the Boussairolles family bought the estate, and 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 in the 17th century.

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 there have been multiple people working 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 forged iron banisters.

Since Roman times, vines have been grown on this spot. A descendant of Jean-Baptiste Colbert now produces the Flaugergues wine.

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Details

Founded: 1696-1741
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in France

Rating

4.2/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Karina Rakhmatullaeva (15 months ago)
It was a great day to have a guided tour (in English and French mixed) around the castle and have a little backstory of how, when and what was happening around it. The property is surrounded by beautiful gardens which worth a longer visit! Our tour has finished with wine tasting of white, rosé and red wines produced on the vineyards located behind the château. Many thanks to the staff and the lady who was our guide!??
Kirill Maksimkin (2 years ago)
That’s a nice place to go for a walk. It takes about an hour to go around the garden. Next to it you can find an eco farm. And of course there is some degustation of local vines and products available.
Mathew Scott (2 years ago)
Great experience, amazing chateau but what really made it was the expert cave tour and wine tasting, great afternoon out! Also can thoroughly recommend the restaurant, Folia, simple menu amazing food!
Alex Irvine (2 years ago)
Very nice tour of the Chateau, done by a young French lady in English, with some help with audience participation. There are some wonderful gardens to peruse afterwards and a wine tadting of 3 different wines, all made by the vineyard.
Julie Kenney (3 years ago)
Great experience and nice local wines, the chateau and garden are both beautiful. It was a bit unclear at first wether we got tickets for just the wine tasting or the tour for the chateau/garden, ended up being both! The whole tour was in french, but they solved it right away giving us a translation card for the tour to help! Overall really nice staff and place :).
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Several interesting pieces of history are associated with the château during the 17th century.