Château de Grosbois

Boissy-Saint-Léger

On the edge of the Bois Notre-Dame, the château de Grosbois at Boissy-Saint-Léger illustrates three centuries of the history of the high nobility and of the Empire. The site first belonged to the abbey of Saint-Victor, to which Philip Augustus had granted lands in 1190, until the abbey ceded them in 1563 to Raoul Moreau. In the early 17th century a first château was built there but left unfinished; Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême, acquired it in 1616 and completed its construction around 1640, with its wings and enclosure walls, in a style influenced by the models of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau. The financier Samuel-Jacques Bernard bought the estate in 1718; it then passed via Germain Louis Chauvelin to François Marie Peyrenc de Moras, then in 1776 to the Count of Provence, the future Louis XVIII. Confiscated as national property in 1797, it was sold to Paul Barras, one of the five Directors of the Republic, before falling in 1801 to General Moreau. Napoleon Bonaparte bought it back in 1804–1805 to give it to Marshal Berthier, Prince of Wagram. The fourth Prince of Wagram inherited it at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1962, René Ballière acquired the estate to set up a racehorse training centre, an activity that continues today alongside the Musée du Trot housed in the outbuildings.

Getting there : Boissy-Saint-Léger (Val-de-Marne), 20 km south-east of Paris; private château housing a racehorse training centre; park and Musée du Trot (trotting museum) accessible on open days or organised visits.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound