The only Renaissance royal castle in Picardy. In 1528, François I decided to build a royal dwelling at Villers-Cotterêts, on the edge of the Retz forest where he liked to hunt. The architect Philibert Delorme contributed to the construction of the building, completed in 1556. In 1661, Louis XIV offers in apanage the duchy of Valois including the castle of Villers-Cotterêts to his brother Philippe d'Orléans called «Monsieur» on the occasion of his marriage with Henriette of England.
A symbolic place of the French language. In 1539, François 1st signed the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, which made the use of the French language mandatory in the acts of administration and justice, instead of Latin. This link with the French language continues over the centuries: François Rabelais stayed at the castle, Molière presented Tartuffe, Alexandre Dumas was born in Villers-Cotterêts.
A monument to a singular destiny. After having housed a beggar’s depot (1808) and a retirement home (1889), it served as a home for dependent elderly people (EHPAD) of the Centre d'Action Sociale de la Ville de Paris until the end of 2014.
Website
chateau-villers-cotterets.fr
Social networks
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Address
Castle park
4, market dead end
02600 Villers-Cotterêts
Resources online
History of the monument
The Villers-Cotterêts ordinance
Art at the time of Francis I