Free Entry to Château de Maisons-Laffitte

Château de Maisons-Laffitte

The Château de Maisons-Laffitte was designed by François Mansart and built between 1630 and 1651. It is a fantastic example of the French baroque style and an important building in the history of European architecture.

The family of Longueil had been in possession of part of the seigneurie (or noble stronghold) of Houses since 1460 and possessed a full share since 1602. Beginning in 1630, and for the following decades, René de Longueil, first president of the Cour des aides, devoted the fortune inherited by his wife to the construction of this magnificent French château.

Charles Perrault said of the château, "The Château de Maisons, of which Mansart made all the buildings and the gardens, is of such a singular beauty that there is no foreigner who does not go there to see it, as one of the finest things that we have in France." Any trip with the Paris Pass would not be complete without touring this marvellous castle.

At the death of René de Longueil in 1677, the Château de Maisons- Laffitte passed to his heirs until 1732, when it was succeeded to the marquise de Belleforière and the marquis de Soyécourt. In 1777 it became the property of Louis XVI's brother, the Comte d'Artois. Confiscated during the Revolution as national goods, the château was sold in 1798 to an army provisioner, Monsieur Lauchère.

It was again sold in 1804 to maréchal Jean Lannes, and finally in 1818, to the Parisian banker Jacques Lafitte. After his daughter, the princesse de la Moskowa, sold the château in 1850 it passed to Monsieur Thomas de Colmar, and then to the painter Tilman Grommé. In 1905 the French State purchased the Château de Maisons-Laffitte to save it from demolition and in 1914 it was classified as a monument historique.

Today it stands as one of the most beautiful buildings in all the world and, with the Paris Pass, is truly a sight no Paris visitor should miss.