Château d'Ancy-le-Franc
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Representative of the Renaissance "art de vivre", the chateau of Ancy-le-Franc is, because of its simplicity, an original construction that has no equivalent in Italy.
After his mother's death, Anne of Husson, Countess of Tonnerre, Antoine III of Clermont inherited the lands of Ancy-le-Franc on which he had a new chateau built in place of the existing one. Ancy-le-Franc was conceived at the court of Francis I, by Antoine of Clermont General, Lieutenant of the Dauphin, Minister of Waters and Forests and brother in law of Diane of Poitiers - and a famous Italian architect Sebastiano Serlio. The chateau was built between 1544 and 1550. A perfect symetry and regularity is the hallmark to the chateau. Four wings are assembled in a square to create an internal courtyard. At the intersection of each wing a tall square tower was erected.
In the Chateau one can see remarquable works of wall paintings and frescoes. In addition the chateau, the estate also has its own stables, a barn courtyard, and various distinctive elements among which is la "Folie", a love temple built in the 18th, on a small island in the middle of a small lake. Property of the Clermont family until 1683, the chateau then became the property of Louvois, Minister of Louis XIV. Financial problems forced his heirs to sell it in 1844 to Gaspard-Louis-Aime of Clermont Tonnerre, descendant of Antoine III of Clermont. After being the property of the Princes of Merode, and of different other owners it now belongs to Paris Investir, a French company dedicated to the rehabilitation and restoration of that Chateau.
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