Bussy-Rabutin Castle, listed as a historic monument, benefited from a vast restoration plan from 2019 to 2023. The Sarcus wing, which has never been opened to the public, was inaugurated on April 4, 2023, and now allows visitors to discover a new tour route. The Renaissance style castle and its garden, reflecting the rich heritage of Burgundy-Franche-Comté, are a popular tourist destination at the departmental and regional levels.
Bussy-Rabutin Castle
This medieval castle was built in XIVe century, transformed in the Renaissance, then arranged by Roger de Rabutin in the XVIIe century. At the same time military, courtesan and writer, he was expelled from the court for having unveiled the gallantries and through the great ones of his time in a work entitled «L'histoire amoureux des Gaules». He was then saved from ruin by the Count of Sarcus in the 1830s. In the XIXe century, the successive owners of the castle, Jacques Dorneau (between 1820 and 1832), then the Count of Sarcus (from 1835 to 1875) set up the Sarcus wing (north-east wing), decorating and furnishing it.
Restoration of the Sarcus Wing
Thanks to the funds paid by the State in particular as part of the recovery plan of the government, in support of the Heritage Mission and with the contribution of the Regional Council of Burgundy-Franche-Comté, the center of national monuments (CMN) undertook a major restoration of the Sarcus wing. Under the project management of Martin Bacot, chief architect of historical monuments, the apartments and service rooms, already refurbished in the XIXe were able to benefit from a complete restoration. Carpenters, painters, masons, electricians… A dozen professional bodies took over for five years to give back to this part of the castle its original soul and offer for the first time the public the opportunity to visit the Sarcus wing.
The Sarcus wing comprises on the ground floor a vestibule, a dining room, a living room, a boudoir, as well as rooms intended for domestic, kitchen, pantry, fruit, as well as a bathroom. We also find a living room, two bedrooms and a library. Through descriptive inventories and painted or engraved representations of equivalent spaces, the CMN sought to recreate a space as authentic as possible. For example, the decoration of walls, textiles, furniture and objects allow the pieces to come to life, especially thanks to the lights and small objects. The castle’s old collections have been redeployed, and have been added to the National Furniture’s generous collections of more than forty works.
The joints and coatings of the exterior gallery have been restored identically. The original volumes of the ground floor apartments have been restored.
The scientific and technical control of the work on this listed monument was provided by the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs of Burgundy-Franche-Comté.
A new tour route
This restoration allows to increase the tour of the castle of Bussy-Rabutin. By visiting this part of the castle, the public discovers a new thematic and chronological dimension. It highlights the evolution of the articulation of spaces, uses and comfort between the XVIIe and the XIXe century. In order to promote the understanding of the different rooms, a new mediation was thought throughout the castle.
The restaurant also improved accessibility for people with reduced mobility by installing an elevator. Visually impaired and blind visitors can benefit from tactile devices and all mediation tools are translated into sign language.
To visit!
This restoration offers the castle a second youth, and allows it to highlight the habits and lifestyles of this time. From April 1 to May 31, 2023, you can also discover the exhibition «Fantastic Castles» by Dimitri de Larocque Latour. The artist presents about forty of his photographs at the crossroads of fantasy and history in the new exhibition spaces. Entering the Sarcus wing and the rooms of the Renaissance tower, visitors embark on a dreamlike journey through France of druids and fairies.