Château de la Muette
The Château de la Muette (French pronunciation: [ʃɑto də la mɥɛt]) is a château located on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, France, near the Porte de la Muette. It is the OECD's headquarters.
Three châteaux have been located on the site since a hunting lodge was transformed into the first château for Princess
The old château was demolished in the 1920s to make room for substantial houses, including a new château built by
Name
The meaning of muette is not certain. In modern French, it denotes a
- muete, a spelling which appears frequently up to the end of the 18th century and signifies a pack of deerhounds;
- mues, the stagsin the autumn; or
- mue, the moulting period of hunting hawks.
It is clear that the name was connected with the hunting lodge in the Bois de Boulogne, which mediaeval French kings used when they hunted deer in the forest.
History
First château
Near the end of his reign,
From 1606 to 1792, the property remained part of the royal estates. In 1716, the château became the home of the Duchesse de Berry,
Second château
On the Duchesse de Berry's death in 1719, the château passed to the nine-year-old king,
Louis XV had the château entirely rebuilt by the architects
Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette
Louis XVI is said to have spent the happiest days of his life at the château with his young bride, although they had no knowledge of sexual matters and thus did not have children for seven years. During this period Louis abolished certain royal taxes, and he opened the gates of the Bois de Boulogne to the populace. The Emperor Joseph II, Marie-Antoinette's brother (travelling incognito under the name of "Count Falkenstein") visited the couple here in April 1777.
Louis granted a small area of sandy ground of the château's estate at les Sablons (near
The château, together with the Château de Madrid and other properties, were put on sale in February 1788, with a view to demolition. The castle fell into disrepair, and the main building was demolished in 1793.
Montgolfier brothers
The first manned flight commenced from the château on 21 November 1783, with a
Post revolutionary history
During the French Revolution, the Château de la Muette became state property. The property was split up into several lots and sold at auction. The château returned to the royal family in 1816. One wing was given to the Minister for Finance, Louis Emmanuel Corvetto. The other wing, and most of the grounds, were purchased in 1820 by Sébastien Érard, who manufactured pianos used by Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. In 1821, Sébastien Érard invented the double escapement action, which permitted a note to be repeated even if the key had not yet risen to its maximum vertical position, a great benefit for rapid playing.
In 1912, the château's then owner, the Franqueville family, sold much of the remaining property, and the former estate developed into a fashionable residential area.
Third château
Two large lots were sold to Baron
The new château was appropriated by Nazi Germany's
The "Rue André Pascal" street on which the
See also
References
- Oborne, Michael. "History of the Château de la Muette". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
- ^ E. de Barthelemy (ed.), Gazette de la Regence. Janvier 1715-1719, Paris, 1887, p.180
- ^ Berry had almost died while being delivered of a still-born daughter on 2 April at the Luxembourg palace. She did not recover from her excruciating delivery but quickly fell pregnant again, as shown by her autopsy. Berry's premature end is vividly described in The Memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon on the reign of Louis XIV and the Regency, chapter XXIII, pp. 206-220.
- ^ "Arion on the Dolphin (y1980-2)". Princeton University Art Museum. Princeton University.