Art & Architecture
article | Reading time5 min
Enter a world apart... filled with mystery, thanks to the extraordinary architecture of the château de Haroué!
The castle's symbolic dimension
Construction of the château de Haroué took 9 years, from 1720 to 1729.
Architect Germain Boffrand 's genius lay in using what was left of the old château to rebuild Haroué.
Boffrand used the foundations and retained the U-shaped layout of the old château, as well as the moat and towers . Indeed, even in the 18th century, these symbols remained the hallmark of seigneurial power.
The château can also be read as a calendar, a symbol of the passage of time...
It has :
- 365 windows (for the days),
- 52 chimneys (for the weeks),
- 12 towers and turrets (for the months)
- 4 bridges crossing the moat (for the seasons).
Finally, for those who like numbers: if you laid the castle's roof flat, it would cover an area of 1.3 hectares!
© Colombe Clier / Centre des monuments nationaux
An outdoor setting worthy of the greatest!
The exterior decoration was largely entrusted to eminent artists from Lorraine.
The statuary
The work of Barthélémy Guibal (1699-1757), who was responsible for the Neptune and Amphitrite fountains in Nancy's Place Stanislas, is also responsible for the 6 groups of children outside the Château de Haroué (4 on the north-facing bridge and 2 on the south-facing terrace).
Did you know that these statues were not originally intended to stand here?
Originally commissioned by Stanislas Leszczynski to adorn the Place de la Carrière in Nancy, he eventually decided they were too small. Prince Marc de Beauvau-Craon acquired them for his château in Lorraine.
© Colombe Clier / Centre des monuments nationaux
Ironwork
The château's ironwork, particularly the entrance gates surmounted by the Prince's and Princess's coats of arms, was long attributed to the famous Lorraine ironworker Jean Lamour (1698-1771), author of the magnificent gates on Place Stanislas in Nancy.
His first works were the railings for the side terraces. At the start of his career, his style, inherited from the art of the late reign of Louis XIV, was still very sober... quite different from the abundant, asymmetrical decorations he later created for Stanislas!
© Colombe Clier / Centre des monuments nationaux
The French garden
On the park side, Prince Marc de Beauvau-Craon called on Louis Ferdinand de Nesle, who was responsible for the gardens at Château de Lunéville. At Haroué, de Nesle designed a park of around 15 hectares, including an orchard.
However, the gardens at Haroué were not completed until the 1950s ! Why was this? Prince Marc de Beauvau-Craon decided to create a parterre à la française in front of the château's southern façade. The idea was simple: a large green carpet punctuated by hornbeams!
© Colombe Clier / Centre des monuments nationaux