Château de Raray: A Renaissance Residence in France
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- France
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page13 sections
History
Château de Raray is a Renaissance residence in Raray, France, begun in the sixteenth century with an initial building dated to 1522. Its architecture combines Renaissance forms, which revived classical Greek and Roman models, with seventeenth-century additions and substantial eighteenth-century alterations. The château’s present character also reflects later changes to its grounds, entrances, and surrounding buildings.
The Renaissance château and Nicolas de Lancy
Only the facades of the central body survive from the original 1522 château. Between 1610 and 1620, Nicolas de Lancy, the new lord of Raray, commissioned major embellishment works. These included the eastern frontons of the lateral wings and probably the monumental hunting balustrades. De Lancy had married the daughter of a Florentine gentleman in 1594, and the couple maintained close connections with Italy, travelling there several times. Italian artists may have worked at Raray, and some sculptures may have been brought from Italy.
Eighteenth-century reconstruction
Between 1766 and 1781, Antoine-Claude-Henry, Marquis de Barres, and his eldest son, Henry-François, extensively altered the estate. Henry-François demolished the older château, which had stood east of the present building on the site now occupied by the entrance to the main courtyard. Stone recovered from it was used for the New Pavilion on the south side, replacing an earlier structure that had connected the château with the service buildings. The eastern frontons of the lateral wings were also reassembled in their present positions during this campaign.
The château acquired its overall appearance shortly before the French Revolution. Until then, its entrance remained on the church square, and the long perspective beyond the main courtyard had not yet been formed. Between 1890 and 1914, Henri de La Bédoyère modernized the residence and demolished old houses that obstructed this perspective. The estate remains in the hands of the Huchet de La Bédoyère family.
Gardens, later use, and protection
Between 1811 and 1828, the Scottish landscape gardener Thomas Blaikie directed the creation of an English-style garden inspired by the park at Ermenonville. All traces of this garden have since disappeared. In 1945, Jean Cocteau filmed some scenes of Beauty and the Beast at the château, and a golf course was laid out in the park in 1988.
The château’s facades and roofs, together with the Red Gate, were classified as historic monuments in 1924. The enclosure wall, the gable of the former stable, and its watch turret were listed in 1967, while the château farm was listed in 1949. Two seventeenth-century painted ceilings, one on the ground floor and one on the first floor, received classification in 1983.
Remains
The surviving estate combines the present château with a walled enclosure, monumental hunting balustrades, entrance structures, service buildings, and the château farm. Renaissance facades form the core of the residence, while the courtyard and its sculptural screens preserve the effects of the seventeenth-century embellishment and eighteenth-century rebuilding.
Château and courtyard
Central body and lateral wings
The central body retains the Renaissance facades of the 1522 building. Its windows still show traces of mullions that were later removed. The semicircular eastern frontons of the lateral wings belong to the 1610 to 1620 embellishment campaign. Their richly moulded tympana were moved and reassembled in their current positions between 1766 and 1781.
Hunting balustrades
Two long monumental hunting balustrades extend along the north and south sides of the main courtyard. A hunting balustrade is a substantial screen or railing decorated with imagery of the chase. The pair is described as unique in France and combines hunting scenes with references to antiquity and Italy. They originally linked the present château to the older building and stood diagonally because that building was narrower. After the courtyard and forecourt were levelled between 20 May and 26 October 1766, the balustrades were moved into parallel lines.
Each balustrade has a central portico crowned by an animal sculpture, a stag on the northern screen and a wild boar on the southern one. The animals along the cornices evoke stag hunting and wild-boar hunting. Nine round-headed openings lie on each side of the central portico, and each opening carries a small scroll-shaped pediment with a hunting dog. Every balustrade contains twenty dogs, including two on its portico. Some are seated, while others wait to ambush prey or attack near the centre.
The lower level follows a different decorative scheme. Its nineteen openings are framed by niches containing male and female busts of ancient figures set on pedestals. Two busts portray the lord of Raray and his wife. The heads differ from one another, while the cartouches below the niches are similar; the principles used to choose the figures are unknown.
Enclosure, Red Gate, and former stable
A wall built between 1610 and 1620 encloses the estate. It includes four turrets, the Red Gate on the north side, and the gable of the former château stables with its watch turret. A watch turret is a small projecting defensive or lookout structure. Two corner turrets face the road. They have simple openings rather than loopholes and are covered by domed stone roofs topped with balls.
The Red Gate is contemporary with the hunting balustrades and takes its name from its two red door leaves. It gives access to the forest and formerly served as the departure route for hunters. Its triumphal design celebrates the chase: the lintel is topped by the seated Diana, the Roman goddess particularly associated with hunting, between two greyhounds. Caryatids, sculpted female figures used as architectural supports, form the gate’s pilasters. The gate appears to have been moved, since a map from 1723 places it east of the château.
The eastern gable of the former stable stands on Nicolas-de-Lancy Street, almost opposite the church. Its projecting watch turret has a rectangular plan. A round dovecote stands in the adjoining service courtyard, which is now used for golf-course parking. A dovecote is a building designed to house pigeons.
New Pavilion
The New Pavilion stands south of the château. Its construction used stone recovered from the demolished older château. It replaced the earlier building that had once connected the residence with the service buildings, and therefore belongs to the eighteenth-century reorganization that gave the estate its present overall arrangement.
Château farm
Renaissance manor
The château farm lies on the square east of the village and includes a sixteenth-century Renaissance manor and a dovecote. The manor has an L-shaped plan, with its outer facades facing Nicolas-de-Lancy Street to the north and Manoir Street to the east. Its principal eastern facade is built of local blond ashlar and has four bays on each level arranged asymmetrically. The first-floor windows align with those below, while the two large central windows on both levels retain mullions.
Two semicircular dormers with pediments rise above the central windows at roof level, each topped by a ball. The roof is covered with red flat tiles. At the two corners of the eastern facade, projecting watch turrets made of red brick retain loopholes, although one opening in the left turret has been converted into a window.
Farm dovecote
South of the manor stands a large round dovecote with a pepper-pot roof covered in the same red flat tiles as the manor. Together with the manor, it forms part of the surviving farm complex east of the village.
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