La Roche-Guyon Castle

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Castle and keep of La Roche-Guyon

The La Roche-Guyon Castle is the successor building of a medieval castle , on a limestone cliff in His arch above the town of La Roche-Guyon had been built.

Since the 10th century the castle was part of the border fortifications in the wars against the Normans and at times possessed considerable strategic value. The systems are partly dug into the mountain. In the course of the conflicts that followed, they were further intensified.

The castle belonged to the lords of La Roche ( French roche = rock), who traditionally had the first name Guy and thus gave the place their name. The noble family of La Roche-Guyon descended from Guy de la Roche (early 12th century), existed until the end of the 15th century and was inherited by the Silly family. These were raised to the rank of count in 1515 and were inherited by the La Rochefoucauld family , who in 1622 received the ducal dignity of Le Roche-Guyon. Its most important representative was the writer François de La Rochefoucauld .

In the 14th century a mansion was built at the foot of the rock and a secret passage to the upper castle was dug. In the age of the Renaissance the military importance faded into the background. The mansion now served as a hunting lodge and a vegetable garden was created. A wall should protect against the flooding of the Seine.

In the 18th century, extensive construction work took place under the Duke of La Rochefoucauld: a representative entrance, terraces , a large salon , a library and a small theater were built. An observatory was installed in the southeast tower .

At the beginning of 1944, the complex was once again of military importance: Army Group B under General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and then Günther von Kluge had their headquarters here until the liberation of the place in August 1944 by the Allies . During the liberation, there was an Allied bombing, which caused considerable damage.

literature

  • Georges Poissons: Ile-de-France castles . Prestel, Munich 1968, pp. 58-62.
  • Vanessa Yager (Ed.): Ouverts au public. Monuments historiques: chateaux et abbayes, parcs et jardins, sites industriels et archéologiques édifices du XXe siècle. Le guide du patrimoine en France . Monum, Ed. du patrimoine, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-85822-760-8 , p. 354.

Web links

Commons : La Roche-Guyon Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Guide des Lieux de Memoire. Champs de bataille, cimetières militaires, musées, mémoriaux . Petit Futé, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-7469-1403-4 , p. 142.
  2. Experience report on the march back of the staff of the head of the military administration from France ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 49 ° 4 ′ 52 "  N , 1 ° 37 ′ 41"  E