En un regard
Le château en bref
Château du Val, in Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine), is an estate first recorded in 1606. Acquired in 1633 by Cardinal Richelieu, it became a prestigious residence where affairs of state were conducted, equipped with a chapel, a theatre, a real tennis court and an Italianate garden inspired by the Villa d'Este at Tivoli, adorned with basins, rocaille grottoes and a great cascade. The Treaty of Rueil was signed there in 1635. It later passed into the hands of the d'Aiguillon family, of Marshal Masséna, and then of the Lemarié and Mercier families, who divided the estate; the château was demolished in the 19th century. Part of the grounds was later home to the headquarters of the pharmaceutical group Novartis, on the site of the former Manoir Richelieu.