Grimaldi Château

En un regard

Le château en bref

Grimaldi Château in Puyricard, near Aix-en-Provence, is a manor built on the ruins of a 16th-century château belonging to the archbishops of Puyricard. The original chapel of the château was constructed in the Romanesque style. Between 1655 and 1685, the château served as the residence of Cardinal Archbishop Girolamo Grimaldi-Cavalleroni, who had rebuilt the château, which had been in ruins for 70 years. As the residence of an archbishop, it is sometimes referred to as an "episcopal palace." The term "palace" (French: *palais*), regardless of the building's size, is not commonly used in Europe for any non-episcopal rural building. The former château had been the ancestral seat of the Princes of Baux, which later passed to the archbishops of Puyricard. In the 17th century, Archbishop Jérôme de Grimaldi had new plans drawn up for its restoration based on those of the Palazzo Farnese. The main façade was divided by pilasters, between which it was said there were 365 windows. The palace cost 2 million livres to build between 1657 and 1678; however, it lasted only a little over 50 years. In 1709, the palace was demolished, with only a few walls surviving the powder explosions used to demolish the thick walls. The current structure built within the walls is slightly later than the ruins of the château, which is actually a bit larger than a large farmhouse.