En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château de la Cour stands in the commune of Contigny, in the département of the Allier. A first feudal castle existed on this site in the Middle Ages, but no visible trace of it remains today. The estate passed through the hands of several families, including those of Renault de La Cour and Jean de Bos, then the Nory and Popillon families. In 1714, Pierre Imbert de Ballore acquired the estate; his descendants had the present ensemble built in the 18th century, completed in the 19th century by the gallery façade. During the French Revolution, Jacques Imbert de Ballore was executed; his widow, Anne Heulhard, obtained the lifting of the sequestration and kept the château together with half of the family property. The château consists of a rectangular main building of one storey under a slate roof, flanked by short wings preceded by a ground-floor gallery surmounted by a balustraded terrace. The central pavilion is adorned with a broken triangular pediment bearing the coat of arms of the Imbert de Ballore family. The estate also includes a Neo-Renaissance chapel, an orangery and former artesian wells. The château now belongs to a private family and is not open to visitors, but remains visible from the outside with its outbuildings.
