Clagny Castle

Plan of Versailles around 1700 with the Clagny Palace in the lower right corner

The Clagny Castle ( French Château de Clagny ) was one of King Louis XIV. For his mistress Madame de Montespan near the Palace of Versailles built castle . It stood in the north-west of the palace park on the Étang de Clagny ( Clagny pond) and on the northern edge of the then small town of Versailles .

The building was built between 1674 and 1684, initially according to the plans of Antoine Le Pautre and, after his death in 1679, by Jules Hardouin-Mansart . The palace gardens were designed by Le Nôtre , who aligned the park with the Étang de Clagny ( Clagny Pond), the first reservoir created for the needs of the Versailles Palace Park.

The castle initially belonged to Madame de Montespan, later at times also to her daughter-in-law Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon-Condé , Duchesse du Maine.

The palace was torn down again in 1769 to make room for the expansion of Versailles. The Versailles - Rive Droite train station now stands in its place. Nothing of the castle has survived, only the Impasse de Clagny leading to the train station and the Rue du Parc de Clagny are reminiscent of the former name of the place.

literature

• Pierre Bonnassieux: Le château de Clagny et madame de Montespan - D'après les documents originaux. Histoire d'un quartier de Versailles . Picard, Paris 1881 ( bnf.fr ).

Coordinates: 48 ° 48 ′ 32 "  N , 2 ° 8 ′ 14"  E