An old medieval hunting lodge nestled on the edge of a peaceful pond in the heart of the Montmorency forest. Now that's setting the scene! The Château de la Chasse is an architectural curiosity that's sure to surprise walkers. The building looks like a fortress... but it's tiny, compact, barely 20m on a side and flanked by four strange, round towers that look almost unfinished, even though they're topped by a roof that acts like a lid.
Built in the XIIᵉ century for Mathieu de Montmorency, this site already had, according to Éginhard, Charlemagne's secretary, the reputation of being an "impregnable fortified castle" in the IXᵉ century - perhaps a souvenir of an earlier fortress. Retained as a hunting lodge rather than an official seigneurial residence, it moderates its glory. Although the château welcomed Jean I le Bon, Charles V, Louis XI, François I and Henri II for royal hunting parties, it was mainly used as a picturesque stopover.
In the XVIIᵉ-XVIIIᵉ centuries, the towers were truncated and topped with tiles, which explains the unusual architecture. Over time, the château became a farm, fell into ruin and was listed as a historic monument in 1933. In 1971-1973, the State bought it and entrusted it to theOffice National des Forêts, which restored it and transformed it into an educational venue.
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