En un regard
Le château en bref
Perched on a steep spur some thirty kilometres north of Chaumont, Reynel Castle occupies a site that in the Middle Ages was an outpost facing the Holy Roman Empire and then Lorraine. The foundations and a tower of the twelfth-century fortified castle survive beneath the present residence, which was largely rebuilt in the eighteenth century, with major works around 1772, and then remodelled in the nineteenth century. Over the course of the nineteenth century the castle hosted a variety of guests, among them the wife of the poet Paul Verlaine and members of the Joinville family. A fire damaged part of it in 1947. The interiors, partly protected, include a medieval kitchen, a great ballroom, a dining room and a Chinese drawing room; there is also a collection of works by the Belgian painter Jef Leempoels and period furniture. The façades, roofs and several rooms have been listed as historic monuments since 21 November 1989. The castle is open to visitors, who are guided by volunteers.