Château des Célestins

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château des Célestins, also known as the former Célestins convent, is a château-monastery located in Colombier-le-Cardinal, in the Ardèche. It was founded in 1339 by Pierre de Colombier, who established a community of Celestine monks there. Damaged during the Wars of Religion, the building was rebuilt in 1655, before destructive events in 1675 led to the demolition of most of the buildings, with the exception of the so-called "cardinal" tower, the church and the cloister. The Celestine order was suppressed in 1773 and the convent closed permanently in 1778. Sold as national property in 1790, the estate then passed to several successive owners, including the Barou de La Lombardière family from 1859, and then the Saint-Gobain group in 1961. Since 1982, the complex, which extends over about 5,000 m² of buildings within an 18-hectare estate, has been managed by an Ardèche joint association of local authorities (syndicat mixte). The drawing room and dining room on the ground floor of the south building have been classified as historic monuments since 1963, and the whole estate has been listed since 2017.