En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château Marmont, in Châtillon-sur-Seine (Côte-d'Or) — not to be confused with the Chateau Marmont, a Los Angeles hotel built in the 1920s — occupies the site of a 15th-century fortified building. The present neoclassical building is the surviving wing of a large 18th-century structure originally oriented north–south. Owned by Marshal Marmont (1774–1852) in the early 19th century, it became a major military stopover: Napoleon Bonaparte stayed there from 18 to 22 May 1795 and then on 12–13 March 1796, on his way to take command of the Army of Italy, and passed through again on 5 April 1805 heading for Milan for his coronation as King of Italy. Bought around 1824 by the local ironmaster Louis Maitre, it remained in that family until it was occupied and largely burned by Prussian troops in 1870. The current building, rebuilt from the surviving left wing and reoriented east–west, served as the starting point from which General Joffre launched the offensive of the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914; it was then occupied by American troops in 1917, among them the future president Harry Truman. Still privately owned, it stands in a large wooded park extending mainly over the territory of Sainte-Colombe-sur-Seine, and is not open to visitors.
