Vincennes castle on the outskirts of Paris. Vincennes Castle: history and photos. More about the castle

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The entrance to the castle is located a few meters from the metro station

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For some reason, Vincennes Castle is rarely visited by tourists

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To the right of the entrance is a large moat that runs around the entire castle

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Central gate to the castle

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Story
XII-XIII centuries
Around 1150, a hunting lodge was built on the site of the castle for Louis VII. In the 13th century, the estate was expanded by Philip Augustus and Saint Louis (it was from the Vincennes Castle that Louis went on his fatal crusade to Tunisia).
In the second half of the 13th century, Kings Philip III and Philip IV married in the Château de Vincennes, and Louis X, Philip V the Long and Charles IV died.

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Story
XIV-XVI centuries
In the 14th century, under Philip VI, the castle was significantly expanded and acquired a donjon tower 52 meters high, in which royal chambers and a library were located. Around 1410, already under Charles VI, the perimeter of the outer walls was completed.
During the French Wars of Religion in the 16th century, the castle became a prison, including for the future king Henry IV.

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Story
17th century
In the 17th century, the architect Louis Leveau built two pavilions by order of Louis XIV - one was intended for the dowager queen, the other for Cardinal Mazarin. However, after the king’s attention was diverted by a new project - Versailles - work on arranging the new courtyards was abandoned. Builders came to Vincennes again only in 1860 under the leadership of the restorer Viollet-le-Duc.

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Plan of the castle of Vincennes

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Story
XVIII-XIX centuries
Storming of the donjon by revolutionary people on February 28, 1791
In the 18th century, the kings left the castle forever. It housed the Vincennes porcelain manufactory (since 1740) and, again, a prison. The Duke de Beaufort, Nicolas Fouquet, John Vanbrugh, the Marquis de Sade, Diderot and Mirabeau sat in Vincennes.
In 1804, in the ditch of the fortress, on the orders of Napoleon, the kidnapped Duke of Enghien was shot.

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Story
XX century
In the 20th century, the French executed Mata Hari in the castle in 1917, and the Germans executed 30 peaceful hostages in 1944.

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There is a military base across the street

Lovers of ancient architecture, admirers of France and history buffs should not miss the opportunity to visit the Vincennes Castle - a palace that is unlike any other in Paris, but keeps a lot of royal secrets. How is this different from the rest, many will ask. In comparison with other French castles, so elegant and gentle in their appearance, Vincennes, on the contrary, looks very gloomy, even threatening. Not surprising, because he has a truly harsh history.

Location of Vincennes Castle

The fortress is located in the suburbs of Paris, the village of Vincennes, which, in turn, is located 300 m west of the Chateau de Vincennes metro station and 8 km southeast of. It is noteworthy that, unlike others, the Vincennes castle was built on a flat territories. And the ditch, which served as a barrier to the entry of enemy forces, was filled with a stream, because there were no rivers nearby. During the Middle Ages, a forest grew on this site, so that the fortress was surrounded on all sides by trees. It has practically not survived to this day.

Description of the castle

It is a massive fortress in the shape of an irregular rectangle, the donjon of which was built in the form of a square with three round towers at the corners of the fortress walls, 6 m in diameter. All of them are equipped with a covered viewing gallery. Vincennes Castle is impregnable. This is a fortress with huge walls 3 meters thick and almost 12 meters high, completely corresponding to the donjon. And these dimensions are indicated without taking into account the depth of the ditch. There are 6 floors in total, but only 5 are counted, since the last one is very small in relation to the others. But from there you have a beautiful view of the surrounding area.

Initially, the towers of the fortress walls were much higher, but later they were leveled. And it is in this form that the structure has been preserved to the present day. The backbone of the donjon is a column that supports the vaults of all five floors. Relatively recently, it underwent reconstruction in order to strengthen it, without which the structure threatened to collapse. It is assumed that there was once a painting on the inner walls of the fortress.

Vincennes Castle: history

The “life” of the fortress begins with the construction not of the structure that can be seen today, but of a small hunting house, erected in the middle of the 12th century by order of (Young). It is not surprising that the king chose this place, because in the Middle Ages there was a beautiful forest rich in game. Then a castle appeared, which happened already in the 13th century, when Philip Augustus ruled and if you dive into history, you will find that it was from this fortress that he set off on his last campaign - the Crusade, from which he never returned.

Closer to the 14th century, the Vincennes castle was used as a place for special events. For example, Philip III married here, and 10 years after him, in 1284, Philip IV. But not only ceremonial events were held here. In 1316, Louis X died in the castle, 6 years later - Philip V, and after the same amount of time - Charles IV.

But the fortress is immortal. And already in 1337, King Philip IV gave orders about the need to strengthen it, for the purpose of which a donjon was erected, subsequently protected by its walls. Born in the castle, Charles V (the Wise) settles there, making the building his own residence, and as a result, a powerful wall more than a kilometer long with six towers and three gates appears. But such a project could not be implemented quickly, and therefore construction continued for 2 generations. Then the construction of his own Holy Chapel begins, and the next ruler, Louis XI, moves from the donjon to a building located in the fortress wall.

Louis XIV went even further - he ordered the architect to design 2 wings connected by a front courtyard. Both were decorated in the classicist style, but one belonged to the queen and the other to the king. At that time, the Chateau de Vincennes (Paris) was the third most important residence, but already in 1670 the Sun King moved to Versailles. The fortress at Vincennes has lost its calling.

The fate of the castle throughout its existence to the present day

Even when Louis XIV lived in the fortress, the donjon became a state prison, but not a simple one, but for prisoners of noble origin. Some of them were allowed to bring servants and wives with them to the castle, so the prisoners’ accommodation could be called more than comfortable. For example, the now well-known philosopher and poet Voltaire and the brawler Marquis de Sade served their sentences there.

When the Sun King moved to Versailles, the keep continued to be a prison, even after a porcelain factory was established there in the 18th century. The hunting lodge, from which the history of this eventful place began, ceased to exist only in 1796, after the castle was transformed into an arsenal. At that time, various military structures began to appear. By the way, they can still be seen today, since the buildings are well preserved and have not been destroyed.

In 1804, the moat of the fortress witnessed bloody events - on the orders of Napoleon, the only son of the Prince of Condé from the Bourbon dynasty, the Duke of Enghien, was shot. And in 1917, at the same place, the well-known Mata Hari said goodbye to her life. Today, the Vincennes Castle, photos of which are shown in the article, is a museum open to everyone.

The grounds of the Vincennes Castle

Only a small piece remains of the forest that was once dense. In addition to the donjon, the Holy Chapel and military buildings, there are now research and archival centers on the territory:

• Historical Service of the Ministry of Defense.
• National Defense History Research Center.
• Interministerial commission in charge of restoration work.

Vincennes Castle: how to get there?

The easiest way is the subway. Regional express metro - Vincennes station, or the first line of the Paris metro - Chateau de Vincennes station. The feudal fortress, the residence of the French kings and the forest house is an architectural creation, unremarkable from the outside, but of great historical value. After all, more than one generation of French rulers during the Middle Ages was born, grew up, married and died here. The Vincennes Castle, about which tourists leave only admiring reviews, is truly worthy of a visit no less than the Louvre or

Vincennes Castle is located in the south-eastern Paris suburb of Vincennes: approximately 8 kilometers southeast of the Ile de la Cité and 300 meters west of the Château de Vincennes metro station. This is the largest French royal fortress that has survived to this day, and the donjon (52 meters) located in the western part of the courtyard is the highest in Europe.

Unlike most other fortresses, which were usually built on a rocky cliff or on top of a hill, Vincennes Castle stands on a flat limestone plateau. There is no river in its vicinity: a small stream filled the fortress moats, and excess water flowed into Lake Saint-Mande, located 850 meters west of the castle. In the Middle Ages, the castle was surrounded on all sides by forest, in which game was found and where French kings loved to hunt. To date, only a small part of it remains - the Bois de Vincennes.

In the mid-12th century, King Louis VII built a small hunting lodge in the forest. In the 13th century, under Kings Philip Augustus and Saint Louis, a small castle arose in its place. It was from there that Saint Louis went on a crusade from which he did not return. In the second half of the 13th century, wedding celebrations took place at the Château de Vincennes on the occasion of the marriage of Philip III (in 1274) and Philip IV (in 1284). In the first third of the 14th century, three kings died there - Louis X (in 1316), Philip V (in 1322) and Charles IV (in 1328).

Around 1337, Philip IV of the Valois dynasty decided to strengthen the castle and ordered the construction of a donjon, protected by its own fortress walls. Charles V, who was born in the castle, chose it as his official residence and transferred the entire top administration of the kingdom there. By his order, a powerful fortress wall more than a kilometer long with three gates and six towers 42 meters high was erected, although construction continued for two generations. The fragments of the crown of thorns stored in the Chateau de Vincennes were transferred to the Holy Chapel in Paris, while the castle itself began construction of its own Holy Chapel, which was consecrated only in 1552. Louis XI moved the royal apartments from the donjon to a new building built within the fortress wall. Subsequently, Francis I stayed there. The young Louis XIII spent several years at the Chateau de Vincennes after the assassination of his father Henry IV.

Vincennes Castle became the third most important royal residence. By order of Louis XIV, the architect Louis Levo built two wings in the classicist style on the territory of the castle, united by a common front courtyard - the Queen's wing (1658) and the King's wing (1661). On March 11, 1661, Cardinal Mazarin died at the Château de Vincennes, and a funeral service was held in the Holy Chapel.

In the 17th century, the castle's keep was converted into a state prison, which was intended for prisoners of noble birth. Thus, one of the leaders of the Fronde, Cardinal de Retz, and the superintendent of finance, Nicolas Fouquet, served their sentences in the Castle of Vincennes.

By the 70s of the 17th century, when Louis XIV settled in Versailles, Vincennes Castle ceased to be a royal residence. In the 18th century, a porcelain manufactory was founded in the castle, which was later transferred to Sèvres, and the donjon continued to remain a royal prison. It was visited by the philosopher Voltaire, the notorious Marquis de Sade, the famous figure of the French Revolution, Count Mirabeau, and the encyclopedist Diderot. In the 19th century, the purpose of the donjon remained the same, only the conditions of detention of prisoners changed. In 1848, the left-wing republicans Barbes, Blanquis, and Raspail were placed there.

In 1796 the castle was turned into an arsenal. The hunting lodge was finally destroyed, and new military buildings appeared, which have survived to this day. In March 1804, by order of Napoleon, the Duke of Enghien, the only son of the Prince of Condé, a representative of the junior branch of the Bourbon dynasty, was shot in the ditch of the Vincennes castle. And in October 1917, the same fate befell the famous spy Mata Hari.

In 1964, Charles de Gaulle considered moving the presidential residence from the Elysee Palace to Vincennes Castle, but the project was never realized.

Currently, the castle serves as a museum. In recent years, active restoration work has been carried out there. The donjon and the Holy Chapel are open to visitors. The donjon is a massive square structure with four round towers at the corners. The length of each of the four walls is 16.2 meters. The thickness of the walls is about 3.3 meters. The donjon consists of six floors, each of which contains a vaulted hall with a height of 7 to 8 meters on the first five floors and 3.5 on the last floor. Supplies of water and food were stored on the lower floor of the donjon. The second and third floors were intended for the king's chambers. And on the remaining upper floors there were servants and warriors.

The donjon is surrounded by a fortress wall, which is shaped like an irregular square with sides of just over 50 meters. The height of the walls is 11.5 meters, thickness - 1.7 meters. A covered sentinel gallery runs along the perimeter of the wall. There is a watchtower in each corner of the fortress wall.

The Holy Chapel is a single-nave Gothic church with two chapels on either side of the apse, one of which was intended for the king, the other for the queen. In the king's chapel is the tomb of the Duke of Enghien. A small extension adjacent to the chapel on the north side served as a sacristy. Unlike the Holy Chapel, located on the Ile de la Cité, the Holy Chapel in Vincennes was built at a time when two-story churches were already out of fashion. The stained glass windows of the choir were made in the mid-16th century by the famous master Nicolas Borain. The remaining stained glass windows, made of white glass with colored frames, were installed after World War II: some of them were broken during a storm in December 1999.

Several research and archival centers are located on the territory of the Vincennes Castle: the Historical Service of the Ministry of Defense, which stores the archives of the ground, air force, navy and gendarmerie; National Defense History Research Center; interministerial commission in charge of the restoration of the Vincennes Castle.

Vincennes Castle is an ancient residence of French kings, the central part of a park complex in the east of Paris.

History of Vincennes Castle

Vincennes Castle grew up on the site of a hunting residence built in the 12th century by Louis VII. A century later, Philip Augustus built the first serious fortifications here; subsequent generations of monarchs continued in the same spirit, building and expanding the castle. Vincennes Castle was constantly at the center of events - kings were born here, married, lived (including as captives) and, from time to time, died. In the 17th century, under Louis XIV, the castle, which had already lost its defensive significance, began to be rebuilt into. But soon the king’s attention was occupied by a new project - Versailles, and Vincennes Castle was forgotten. In the 18th century it housed a porcelain manufactory and a prison. In 1840, modern fortifications were built to the east of the Vincennes castle, and in 1860, under Napoleon III, the castle received a park and finally became, first of all, a recreational place and a historical landmark.

Worthy of tourist attention!

Vincennes Castle is, first of all, an interesting example of medieval architecture (as well as the talent of restorers, given its difficult fate). The shape of the castle is a rectangle 378 by 175 meters, surrounded by walls and towers (which were higher until the 19th century), and the same moat paved with stone. Even from afar, the impregnable donjon (the main tower of the castle, the place of residence of its owner), rising more than 50 meters, catches the eye. Opposite the donjon, in the castle courtyard, the Saint-Chapelle chapel is being built, made in unusual proportions (high but narrow), which creates an unusual play of light inside.

Two 17th-century pavilions deserve special attention - although they cannot compete in scale and design with, say, they still remain noteworthy places to visit.

Do not forget that Vincennes Castle is part of a large castle, where many attractions and simply beautiful places are located: for example,.

• In 1917, Mata Hari was shot in the castle. The already middle-aged dancer and courtesan became interested in espionage, for which she paid. According to evidence, she met death with exceptional composure, even blowing a kiss to the firing squad.
• The camera of the Marquis de Sade has been preserved here.
• The frame houses the headquarters of the French military archive service and part of the funds. Military historians are also responsible for a small museum inside the donjon.

How to get to Vincennes Castle?

• RER A station Vincennes
• First wind station Chateau de Vincennes.

Opening hours of the Château de Vincennes?

Where to live?

Hotels located near Vincennes Castle can be booked

Enjoy your visit to the medieval fortress!

And the fashion model is the queen herself
Vincennes castle in the royal monastery
Served... Darkness of knight fans
(Crowded around Isabella of Bavaria
. What's in fashion? - Behind the feast is a brilliant feast,
Death and love, duel, tournament.

Vladimir Benediktov

Those who want to see Vincennes as it once was - a feudal fortress, the home of the French kings, the "Forest Castle", and perhaps their favorite residence, should look into the book "Very Rich Hours" by the Duke of Berry.

A roof rising above a brilliant cavalcade among a green forest, powerful cedars near a huge donjon. Of all these towers, only one remained - the Village, looking at Vincennes and serving as an entrance portal, but the donjon, like the precious Sainte-Chapelle, was preserved. Sainte-Chapelle is the oldest chapel; Saint Louis wanted to build Chapelle in 1337, at the beginning of the Hundred Years' War, but only Philip VI began construction of the giant.

Vincennes has been around for a long time. Leaving fetid Paris for several days, wrapped in a stone corset, the king of the Capetians, great hunters from God, came here to breathe in the freshness of the green forests, indulging in his favorite pastime.

Louis Saint Louis VII

At first there was a fortress, the first mention of which dates back to 1162. Philip Augustus rebuilt it, and Saint Louis expanded it. The king loved Vincennes more than other castles. The folk style became the pinnacle for the monarch, who loved the rural idyll, and this explains his passion for dense oak foliage when it came to justice.

He became a major participant in the first of the significant events that took place there. On August 19, 1239, an impressive force approached the fortress, surrounded by commoners. At the head of the detachment were two barefoot men in simple white tunics, carrying a stretcher with a wooden chest.

These were the king and his brother Robert d'Artois. In the wooden chest there was also a silver one, which contained a third one - pure gold. This third chest contained an expensive relic: the Holy Crown of Thorns, presented by the Bedouin Emperor of Constantinople to the King of France in exchange for a solid amount of money.

Saint Louis was on his way to meet what he considered the most precious treasure in the Archbishopric of Villeneuve in Yonne. With short marches he reached his castle at Vincennes, where Venets spent one night before conquering Paris. There he was placed in the Abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Chalets, where he waited for an amazing treasure to be built for him - Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.

Vincennes will also have its own Sainte-Chapelle, more modest, content with one holy name. The order for construction would come nine years later.

The king came and returned to Vincennes twice, gathering the Estates General there. It was from there that in August 1270 he went on a crusade to Tunisia, where he was overtaken by the plague. He spent the entire last night before leaving in prayer. In prayers that did not save his heirs from a tragic fate, in which Vincennes would take a direct part. The first was his son, the new king Philip III.

Philip III the Good Isabella of Aragon

After returning from the crusade, which he went on with his father, he brought with him three coffins to Vincennes: the coffin of his father, his wife Isabella of Aragon, who died in childbirth on the way back, and his son, who was born on the way, but lived only a few days.

Philip III and the knights mourn the body of Queen Isabella.

The word coffin is perhaps too strong, since it was just a small chest. Usually, in order to transport the bodies, they were boiled to separate the flesh from the bones, first removing the heart and preserving only the bones. It is difficult to imagine how a young man, in love with his beautiful wife, could withstand such a spectacle.

Be that as it may, the tragic return struck the people: “The king,” they said, “brought empty chests and chests full of skeletons from the crusade.”

Maria of Brabant

Wedding of Philip III and Mary of Brabant. Miniature from the Chroniques de France ou de St. manuscript. Denis, late 14th century
But it was in Vincennes, three years after his dramatic return, that Philip married Marie of Brabant, a very beautiful girl whom he liked very much. The marriage was more out of love than out of necessity, because during the nine years of his life with Isabella of Aragon, he had five children, of whom the future king Philip the Fair and his brother Charles of Valois survived.

Philip IV Charles Valois.

At the time of his second marriage, the beautiful Philip was not the eldest. Louis died shortly after his father's wedding. At that time, the king had a favorite, whom he made his chamberlain - Pierre de La Brosse.

Pierre de La Brosse

He was an old barber, owing to the royal favor his fortune, which was too obvious not to be the cause of a scandal. The queen and he disliked each other, and when the young heir died suddenly in Vincennes, the chamberlain immediately accused Mary of poisoning her stepson.

Phillip IV Joan of Navarre

The king refused to believe such an accusation. The Queen defended herself and called for God's judgment. A court before which the old barber could not appear, and in which there were no winners. His guilt in the slander was proven. Pierre de La Brosse will be hanged despite the protests of the people who considered him one of their own. But this was not the first and not the last court case that was not resolved.

Philip the Fair married in Vincennes in 1284. His wife was Jeanne of Navarre, the only love who brought the kings of France an addition to the title that they would continue to bear: “King of France and Navarre.” Most of Jeanne's Children were born in Vincennes, three of them would become kings: Louis X, Philip V, Charles IV, and her daughter would become the Queen of England. History will preserve her under the name of the French Wolf.
Born in this marriage:
. Margaret (1288 - December 6, 1312)
. Louis X (4 October 1289 - 5 June 1316), king of France (from 1314) and Navarre (from 1307)
. Blanca (1290–1294)
. Philip V (November 17, 1291 – January 3, 1322), King of France and Navarre (from 1316)
. Isabella (1292 - August 27, 1358), wife from January 25, 1308 of the English king Edward II and mother of Edward III. From Isabella comes the Plantagenet claim to the French crown,
served as a pretext for the start of the Hundred Years' War.
. Charles IV (18 June 1294 - 1 February 1328), king of France and Navarre (from 1322)
. Robert (1297 - August 1308)

It is known that at the end of the reign of Philip the Fair, the Templar trial took place, the curse of the great master of the bonfire era, whose scandalous love sent two of the king’s daughters-in-law to Chateau-Gaillard, and the third to Dourdan. It is also known that under the dark arches of Vincennes, death continued to haunt the kings.

Margaret of Burgundy Louis X

After the death of Margaret of Burgundy, strangled in the Chateau-Gaillard prison, Louis X, who inherited the crown from his father Philip, marries Clementia of Hungary. But he did not get to see the child she was supposed to give birth to: on the night of June 4-5, 1316, Louis the Grumpy died in his room in Vincennes from an “abdominal discharge.”

Mago d'Artois

Despite the vagueness of the definition, everything was clear to most of the royal entourage. The king was poisoned, and the poisoner was Mago d'Artois, whose daughters Blanca and Jeanne were still in captivity, and whose niece Margarita was strangled so that Louis the Grumpy could remarry.

A few months later, on the night of November 13–14, Clementia of Hungary suffered in labor. As the sun rose over the forest, the castle was filled with joyful cries. This is a boy. A second cry immediately followed: “Long live King John!” And the bells rang.

Five days later the bells rang again - for a funeral. What happened?

On the morning of this sad day, the little king, crowned and wrapped in the royal mantle, was, according to tradition, presented to the peers of the kingdom and the people by the Most High and Noble Lady Magot d'Artois, Countess of Burgundy and Countess d'Artois.

On the night following this performance, little King John I died in severe convulsions. He died within seconds, giving way to Philip the Long, the second son of Philip the Fair and son-in-law of Mago. The dissipation of Margaret of Burgundy caused the old Salic law to be resurrected in France, according to which her daughter was excluded from inheritance: never again would a woman rule in a kingdom with lily flowers.

This death of a child gave rise to one of the most terrible secrets in Vincennes. They said that the nurse's child was replaced by the king, while the king himself was sent to Sienne to his father, the young Siena banker Guccio Baglioni.

His heir, Philip VI, in turn settled in Vincennes and took it from Clementia of Hungary, claiming that the castle was a royal residence and that it would continue to be the inalienable property of the king. But he died in Lon Champ from dysentery that had tormented him for a long time. Vincennes will witness the death of Charles IV the Fair, who died on February 1, 1328 from a long and painful illness at the age of thirty-three.

This time the Capetian branch was stopped. The crown passed to their cousins ​​from the Valois family. Philip VI, who placed it on his head, was incapable of governing the state. His crazy head was full of the most crazy knightly ideas, and his favorite phrase that he liked to repeat was: “We always want to keep our sanity.”

And the reasoning was that England should not conquer France. But he knew how to fight, and during his reign the delightful Vincennes of “Very Rich Hours” rose and prostrated himself in the sun. Delightful, but no longer unique by the time Charles V completed its reconstruction. Charles V died next to him, in the castle of de Bothe.

Henry V of England

Another royal death will ring death bells. Henry V of England, winner of Agincourt, will arrive at the fortress to marry Catherine of France. Married on 2 June 1420, he died at Vincennes on 31 August 1422 "of colic", preceding his father-in-law, Charles VI the Mad, who died in October. Having never been king of France, he will have to rest in Westminster, but Vincennes will still inhale the fumes of the “royal broth” before embalming.

After the death of the English sovereign, it seemed that the kings of France refused to give their last breath to Vincennes. But there was still one more, the young twenty-four-year-old King Charles IX. Passionate about hunting - during St. Bartholomew's Night he killed Protestants like flies on the windows of the Louvre - he was very fond of his Forest Castle.

Charles IX Henry III

On May 30, 1574, he died in Shakespearean style, among the banners, reddened by the bloody sweat that flowed from his tuberculous body. The victims of St. Bartholomew's Night cursed him.

Like the Capetians and Valois, the Bourbons were excellent hunters. The forest castle of Vincennes has become a truly royal place for changing horses. Louis XI, the most passionate hunter of them all, provided two details: first a sinister donjon - he ordered the construction of a small tower on the site where the King's Pavilion now stands, and another for accidents that occurred when the king settled there.

He introduced in it all the colors that were supposed to suit government prisoners. So Vincennes became a prison. A role he performed for decades. From now on, the ceremonies that take place here on exceptional occasions will not be distinguished by either pomp or grandeur: a shroud, a stretcher, four soldiers, a monk opening the way to heaven, that’s all.
Kings seemed to love receiving envoys here. The meaning of this was very simple: the beautiful fortress left a stronger impression of their power than the Louvre.

The envoys of Suleiman the Magnificent were very sensitive to the reception given by Francis I. The envoys of Philip II of Spain also lived there when they came to pay homage to Henry II. But as a royal castle, Vincennes lost a lot. Beautiful castles now rise above the Loire, and the climate there is a little milder - the gardens of France are calmer than in the heart of the harsh Capetian forest.

The only Valois king who went against fashion was Henry III, who adored Vincennes. Maybe because this military structure gave the area an unexpected relief and elegance. Of all the kings, he and Louis XIV had the talent of real stage directors, with the exception of Francis I, but he had Leonardo da Vinci...

Annoying interlude: in 1590, after the death of Henry III, killed by the monk Jacques Clement, and one year of siege by members of the League of the Duchess de Montpensier, Vincennes surrendered.

Monument to Saint Louis at the walls of Vincennes Castle
The Duchess put weapons in the hands of Jacques Clement, and she also paid him to avenge the death of her brothers: Henry of Guise and Cardinal Lorraine, killed at the castle of Blois. This fury now ruled in the royal fortress, which she gave to her soldiers to be torn to pieces. The soldier who made her governor.

Henry IV Marie de' Medici

Henry IV Vincennes had to wait a long four years before the king again entered his dome. What a king! Henry IV, before whom the fanatical troops of the League melted like butter in the sun. The condition of the castle was terrible. Henry really wanted to rebuild or restore it. Unfortunately, he had no money. France needed to recover, and women - no one ever doubted that France was a woman - were expensive. Only one brought him a fortune, his second wife Maria de Medici, the great banker who would kill him for the sake of world peace - or for the sake of peace for herself.

She was the one who started the restoration. On August 17, 1610, Louis XIII, still in deep mourning, only three months having passed since the blow of Ravaillac's knife, laid the first stone of the building that would become the King's Pavilion. The name is apt: Louis XIII will spend most of his youth there. He and, most importantly, Richelieu returned to the plans and dreams of Louis XI. Some honorable prisoners visited the donjon, but the cardinal had no time to monitor the duration of the captivity of the powerful.

Henry II Condé Marshal d'Ornano

First, Prince Henry II of Condé, father of the famous Duchess de Longueville, who will be born in Vincennes. Her mother received permission to accompany her husband.

Then Alexander and Caesar of Vendôme, illegitimate sons of Henry IV and Gabriel d'Estrée, Marshal d'Ornano, who died, like Alexander of Vendôme, from toxic fumes. The fate of Marshal de Rouplorin turned out to be the same. They also talk about a certain scarf containing arsenic.

But the most famous prisoners came here from the Fronde: the famous Duke of Beaufort, king of the squares, son of Caesar of Vendôme, who escaped after three years of imprisonment using a rope ladder hidden in a huge pie.

Then new Condés: first the greatest, famous winner of Rocroi, his brother Conti and his son-in-law Longueville. And, to finish, in 1652 - the main inspirer of the Fronde, the famous Cardinal Retz.

Having come to power, Mazarin decided that Vincennes could do good service if he placed treasures there. But knowing that he cannot occupy the royal domain alone, he completes the construction of the King’s Pavilion, and then the Queen’s.

Arsenal. Construction from the reign of Louis XVIII (1815-1824)

He died in Vincennes on February 8, 1661, on the first floor of the King's Pavilion (today it is the Military Archive, while in the Queen's Pavilion it is the Marine Archive). It is known that Louis XIV preferred Saint-Germain and, most importantly, Versailles, which he already had in his head.

He decided that the donjon would be a suitable home for Superintendent Fouquet, who was arrested after his too luxurious holiday in Vaud and was awaiting trial in the company of his personal guard d'Artagnan, captain-lieutenant of the musketeers.

It all ended with royal pomp. While remaining a temporary residence for foreign sovereigns and a prison, it also became a refuge for several enterprises: a porcelain factory and a cadet school.

Count Mirabeau

Diderot.
Among his prisoners were: Diderot, Mirabeau, the passionate Sophie de Monnier, the famous Latude - the world record holder for escapes, who finally came out through the door.

The revolution turned the castle into a gunpowder factory, placing girls in the King's Pavilion for entertainment. But the hour of drama was already approaching. A drama about which Talleyrand will say: “It is more a crime than a mistake.”

On the evening of March 20, 1804, at 5:30 a.m., a closed carriage surrounded by riders drove into the courtyard. There was a thirty-two-year-old young man inside. It was another Condé. This time is the last one.

Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, Duke of Enghien, captured five days earlier, contrary to all laws, at the cost of trespassing, in Ettingheim, in the small town where he lived peacefully.

He lived there with his morganatic wife, despite the resistance of old Condé, Charlotte de Rohan, niece of the famous Cardinal de Rohan, who gave refuge to the young couple. The kidnapping, led by General Ulin, was organized on the orders of Bonaparte, who saw in the prince the main figure of the royalist party.

When Enghiensky got to Vincennes, he did not even think about death. How could you think about her? Political prisoner! Without trial, shoot him near a dirty ditch and bury him immediately. That's exactly what happened.

Duke of Enghien
Awakened at night in the King's Pavilion, where he was lodged, the prince, after a semblance of interrogation, was led to the Vincennes Moat and shot there. The body was immediately buried. Bonaparte did not even honor the victim with the promised audience.

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Four years later Napoleon, God knows why, ordered all the towers to be demoted to the general level, leaving only the donjon and the Village Tower.

Maybe he was embarrassed by this ancient symbol of royal power, or maybe the memories did not leave him? Only in 1816 the body of the young Duke was removed from the ditch and buried in Sainte-Chapelle in the Bozno mausoleum, where it still rests. Meanwhile, Vincennes experienced another glorious page.

In 1814, the governor of Vincennes was General Domesnil, who lost his leg at Wagram. The empire was collapsing, but Vincennes, which still had a large amount of gunpowder, weapons and ammunition, did not cease to defend itself fiercely. And while Marmont capitulated at Belleville, Domesnil managed to gather some troops.

Desperate to take the fortress, the allies sent a truce

It took the emperor's abdication to convince the crippled hero of Louis XVIII's right to this castle. To punish his resistance, he was sent into exile in Condé. But Louis Philippe, having become king, returned Domesnil and it was in Vincennes that he died of cholera.

Unlike many other castles in France, the Vincennes castle is not located on a hill, but on a flat plateau. There is no river nearby either. The castle's moat is filled with water from a stream, and the excess flows into a lake located in the distance. In the early Middle Ages, the Bois de Vincennes occupied a huge area and was rich in a variety of game. Only a small part of it has survived to this day.

Sainte Chapelle

In the Middle Ages, the name of the castle caused no less horror among the people than the word “Bastille,” although in fairness it must be said that the prisoners of Vincennes enjoyed, oddly enough, a certain freedom: family members were allowed to visit them and were even sometimes given the opportunity to hunt in the forest. This loyalty was probably due to their noble origins.

The 20th century was marked by an attempt to return the castle to its political influence. Charles de Gaulle made attempts to move the presidential residence to the Vincennes Castle, but the idea remained unrealized.

Currently the castle functions as a museum. In the perfectly preserved donjon you can see the king's chambers, which are located on the second and third floors. In the Middle Ages, the lower floor was occupied by the kitchen and storage of food and water, while the upper floors were intended for servants and soldiers.

The stained glass windows of the choir were made by the then famous master Nicola Boren. Here, in the chapel, is the tomb of the Duke of Enghien. Since 1997, the castle has been restored and continuously restored, and in 2007, Vincennes Castle was declared a national monument of France.

Now, to some extent, it continues to serve the interests of its country, since it houses the archival and research centers of the French Ministry of Defense. In particular, the Historical Service of the Ministry of Defense. Vincennes Castle, a truly great fortress of France, is still in service and serves it as it did centuries ago.

Pavilions in classical style, built in the 17th century. first by Mazarin, then by Louis XIV. Currently closed to the public:

I just re-read Druon, there are many places where the Vincennes castle appears in the first half of the 14th century, and it is just described that the king lived in one castle out of many, the rest stood empty and unheated, and when the king moved, a convoy with fabrics for upholstery dragged behind him walls, furniture, various things...)) I imagined how it was unloaded in Vincennes and as if I was there again)

In 1917, Mata Hari was shot in the castle. The already middle-aged dancer and courtesan became interested in espionage, for which she paid. According to evidence, she met death with exceptional composure, even blowing a kiss to the firing squad.

Mata Hari, . The camera of the Marquis de Sade has been preserved here.

The frame houses the headquarters of the French military archive service and part of the funds. Military historians are also responsible for a small museum inside the donjon.
How to get to Vincennes Castle?
. RER A, Vincennes station
. The first wind of the Paris metro, Château de Vincennes station.
Opening hours of the Château de Vincennes?
Open from May 21 to September 22 from 10 am to 6 pm. The rest of the year until 17-00
Sources: History of the French monarchy. - Paris: Produccienne, 1924 (French)
Photo: Wikimedia, site “zamki-mira.” photos.sochi,offsite of the Vincennes Castle.Translation-Peshkova M.

Vincennes Castle is a majestic medieval royal residence, which is located on the outskirts of Paris - the Bois de Vincennes.

Vincennes Castle is a kind of medieval Versailles. Only if Versailles was the residence of the Bourbon dynasty, then representatives of the royal Valois family lived in Vincennes. The castle is one of the best examples of medieval fortification art. And this is not surprising, because he was supposed to protect the peace of not just anyone, but the King of France himself. Royal hunting grounds lie around the citadel.

Vincennes dates back to 1150, when a hunting lodge for Louis VII was built on the site of the future castle. Subsequently, the castle was expanded several times, and acquired the status of the Valois family nest. In the 13th century, Kings Phillip III and Phillip IV married there. Also, several representatives of the royal dynasty were born in the castle.

The castle's greatest prosperity came in the 14th century, when it was significantly expanded. It was then that he acquired the main features of his modern appearance. Already in the 17th century, by order of the famous Sun King Louis XIV, two pavilions were completed at the castle: for the queen and for Cardinal Mazarin, known to us from the novel “The Three Musketeers”.

However, after Versailles was built, the kings' interest in the castle disappeared, and it ceased to be a royal residence. And as befits a former castle, a prison was established in Vincennes in 1740. From that moment on, the castle became a place of much darker than royal life, but no less remarkable events.

Famous prisoners of the Chateau de Vincennes included the outstanding thinkers Mirabeau and Diderot, and even the Marquis de Sade. As befits dark times, a lot of blood was shed in the castle. The Duke of Enghien and the spy Mata Hari were executed within its walls. And already during the Second World War, the Germans executed 30 civilian hostages here.


The heart of the Chateau de Vincennes is its quotation. The citadel of the Vincennes Castle is one of the highest for its time - 52 meters. By the way, only recently, after a long reconstruction, it was reopened to tourists. Visitors can climb to the very top of the castle, along the way learning about the life of Parisians of that time, about the life of the guards and their famous prisoners





The interiors of the castle, where the French monarchs lived, are also interesting. In contrast to the harsh appearance of the castle, its premises are very beautiful and reflect the ideas of maximum luxury of its time.






The church opposite the castle is called the Holy Chapel (Sainte-Chapelle). Its construction began after the death of Charles V in 1380 and was completed only in 1552 under Henri II. Several stained glass windows from the 16th century remain inside, but the rest were installed after the Second World War and were partially destroyed during a storm in December 1999.











Monument to Saint Louis at the walls of Vincennes Castle
And some photos of Vincennes Park










All material is collected from the Internet

Vincennes Castle. France.

The outskirts of Paris, the Bois de Vincennes, in the green tracts of which lies the Vincennes Castle (French Château de Vincennes) - a majestic and unusual guardian of the Middle Ages.

Once upon a time there were hunting grounds here, and on the site of the castle there was a hunting lodge of Louis VII, this was in the 12th century. A century later, in the 13th century, it was the then reigning kings Philip Augustus and Louis the Saint who gradually began to develop a castle here. Since that time, the castle has been constantly updated, expanded, and completed, acquiring the status of a Valois family estate.

In the 13th century, the marriage of kings Phillip III and Phillip IV took place here, and several generations of French monarchs were born. In a word, turbulent events took place in the royal residence - the kings of France were born, lived, died and even were captured here.
But the castle reached its greatest prosperity in the 14th century; around 1337, Philip VI began strengthening the castle by building the castle's citadel - a 52-meter high donjon. And under Charles V, this tower became his main residence. He also built a long, powerful fortress wall, where six towers and three gates were erected. The Holy Chapel was built, illuminated, however, only in 1552. And the famous Sun King Louis XIV already in the 17th century completed two wing rooms for the queen and king.
But at the end of the 1660s, the Palace of Versailles was built, and the castle of Vincennes lost all interest among the royal family. Since 1740, a porcelain manufactory began operating on the territory of the castle, and a prison was already operating in the donjon and dark and bloody events were unfolding. Its prisoners were the famous Marquis de Sade, the thinkers Mirabeau and Diderot; the famous courtesan Mata Hari and the Duke of Enghien were shot here; during the Second World War, the Nazis executed 30 civilians. In 1796 there was still a weapons depot and military barracks here.
And only Napoleon III ordered the creation of a park complex and recreation area on the territory; in 1860 it became a historical landmark, where there are still many beautiful places. One such place is the zoo.
Undoubtedly, now the castle is a museum with interesting interiors in which French monarchs once lived. Despite the harsh appearance, the premises of the castle are very romantic and beautiful, from which one can judge the luxurious life of that time.

The archives of the Historical Service of the Ministry of Defense are also located here, as well as the Research Center for the History of National Defense.

Vincennes Castle on Google map

When viewed from above, the donjon is a square with a side of 16 meters, with round towers at the corners, with a diameter of 6 meters.

If you look from below, these are impenetrable walls three meters thick.
Officially, there are five floors, although there is a sixth floor, which is relatively small (2 meters high, versus 7-8 meters on other levels), and the upper terrace should offer a wonderful view. Unfortunately, they are only allowed in on special orders.
With the coming to power of the Bourbons, Vincennes Castle lost all its prestige. In 1682, the royal court completely moved to Versailles following Louis XIV. And although the young heir to the throne, the great-great-grandson of the Sun King Louis XV, stayed for a couple of months in Vincennes in 1715 and later came to hunt in the vast Vincennes forest, in the 18th century the castle remained completely abandoned.
The king no longer takes his daily walk. “The King's Walk” is the name given to the covered walkways that run along the wall around the castle.
Subsequently, the donjon turns into a state prison (although subjects disliked by the king had previously been imprisoned in the castle). Among the most famous prisoners are the future king of France Henri IV in 1574, fifteen years before ascending the throne, the famous superintendent of finance Nicolas Fouquet in 1661, Diderot in 1749, Mirabeau, revolutionary writer, known in particular for his pamphlets about the injustice of the French judicial system, in 1777. The room in the photo apparently served as a prison cell for Count Mirabeau. The paintings on the walls were done relatively recently, under Napoleon I.
It is still worth noting that the big difference between the Vincennes prison and the Bastille or the Chateau d'If is the relative freedom of the prisoners, no matter how paradoxical it may sound. Some