Heritage Days 2023: an unusual and free visit to the Désert de Retz in Chambourcy (78)

How about discovering the Désert de Retz during the Journées du Patrimoine? This Sunday, September 17, 2023, the site offers several magical events. It's time to immerse yourself in the world of this unusual area, with a lovely free program.

The Désert de Retz at Chambourcy is a walk through history. Located in Chambourcy, the site welcomes us for an immersion into an 18th-century park of fabriques, a reflection of the Enlightenment. Designed between 1774 and 1789 by François Racine de Monville, the park was created at a time when architectural beauty and nature merged to create a space for reverie. Unfortunately, the French Revolution left its mark, plunging the Désert de Retz into oblivion.

Thanks to the Chambourcy town council, a wind of rebirth blew in 2009, after two centuries of disuse. Here, we discover fabriques inspired by Chinese, Oriental and antique styles, punctuating our tour.

Emblematic figures such as Marie-Antoinette, the Comtesse du Barry, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson have walked the grounds. We discover the destroyed 25-metre column, the ruined Gothic church, the temple of the god Pan, the Pyramide Glacière, the Tartar tent and the obelisk. We guarantee you won't be left indifferent.

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The 2023 Heritage Days program at Désert de Retz :

Aucun événement annoncé à ce jour, le programme est mis à jour en fonction des annonces officielles.

Here's a good plan to discover for these Journées du Patrimoine 2023 in the Yvelines. We're sure you won't be disappointed by this wonderful getaway in this extraordinary place.