Château de Marcellus

En un regard

Le château en bref

Overlooking the Garonne valley near Marmande, the Château de Marcellus succeeded a fourteenth-century fortress held by the Albret family, of which nothing remains; Henri de Navarre sold the estate in 1581. Passing to the Martin du Tyrac family at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the property was entirely rebuilt from 1773 to designs by the Bordeaux architect Richard-François Bonfin, for Count André Joseph de Martin du Tyrac and his wife Suzanne Angélique de Piis-Beauséjour; the master mason Joseph Cazade completed the work in 1775. Built of dressed stone and laid out in a U-shaped plan, the château combines a main block with two pavilions, an arcaded terrace dating from 1772, and salons decorated with paintings by Joseph Antoine. Its most famous occupant, Count Lodoïs de Marcellus, negotiated the purchase of the Venus de Milo in 1820. The façades, roofs, staircase with its wrought-iron balustrade, and salons have been listed as monuments historiques since 1986; the estate now hosts weddings.