{"id":1708,"date":"2026-09-06T17:01:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chateaudecollias.fr\/?page_id=1708"},"modified":"2026-09-10T18:18:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T18:18:55","slug":"history-of-the-castle","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chateaudecollias.fr\/en\/histoire-du-chateau\/","title":{"rendered":"History of the castle"},"content":{"rendered":"

The History of the Ch\u00e2teau de Collias<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

For nearly a thousand years, the Ch\u00e2teau de Collias has watched over the Gardon gorges from its rocky promontory. Every era has left its mark in stone: a medieval tower, a Renaissance portico, a classical facade, painted ceilings, and romantic gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abMen pass away, nature remains, the stones remember.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key dates:
5th century \u2014 \u00abColleivacum\u00bb, ancient name associated with Collias
11th century \u2014 construction of the medieval tower
1584 \u2014 capture of the Ch\u00e2teau during the Wars of Religion
1614 \u2014 Renaissance reconstruction
1629 \u2014 Night of Louis XIII at the chateau
18th century \u2014 golden age and creation of the park
1815 \u2014 installation of Joliclerc, gift of Napoleon
1866 \u2014 Numa Ausset and the romantic garden
1911 \u2014 sale of the castle by candle auction
2019 \u2014 revival of the estate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ancient origins<\/h2>\n\n

Long before the castle, the promontory was inhabited. As early as the 5th century, Sidonius Apollinaris mentions \u00abColleivacum,\u00bb which historians link to Collias; local tradition preserves the memory of a \u00abGreek Camp,\u00bb and some have connected the village's name to the Greek Kolias, a promontory in Attica.<\/p>\n\n

Even stones can speak: during work near the tower, amphora fragments were unearthed, along with a Roman stele dedicated to Aphrodite \u2014 likely evidence of a Gallo-Roman villa, two millennia before our time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The tower and the feudal centuries<\/h2>\n\n

In the 11th century, the tower rises as the historical heart of the Ch\u00e2teau, owned by the bishops of Uz\u00e8s\u2014El\u00e9azar I is mentioned around 1088. The Montarens followed, then Diane d'Albenas, \u00abLady of Collias\u00bb, and the Tr\u00e9molet de Montpezats: the village was even called Montpezat-lez-Uz\u00e8s for a time.<\/p>\n\n

The tower now houses a multi-level room, topped by a terrace from which, on a clear day, you can see the tower of the Duchy of Uz\u00e8s and Mount Ventoux.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Renaissance and royal visit<\/h2>\n\n

In 1584, the Wars of Religion set the ch\u00e2teau ablaze: the roofs burned. When peace returned, the reconstruction gave it mullioned windows, galleries, a helical stone staircase, and the monumental portico dated 1614.<\/p>\n\n

In 1629, Louis XIII, on a campaign in the Midi with Richelieu, spent a night within these walls that had remained loyal to the crown. The same year, he ordered the destruction of the walls of Uz\u00e8s, and the Peace of Al\u00e8s brought the Wars of Religion to a close.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The golden age of the Enlightenment<\/h2>\n\n

In the 18th century, the Fournier de La Chapelle family, enriched by the plantations of Saint-Domingue, gave the ch\u00e2teau its grand classical facade, bedrooms each equipped with a powder room, and vast reception rooms.<\/p>\n\n

The marquis entrusts the park to Fran\u00e7ois-Joseph B\u00e9langer, the architect of Bagatelle and the gardens of the Count of Artois: terraces, pathways, and vistas open the residence up to the gorges. The Revolution will shatter this momentum\u2014the marquis dies by the guillotine, and the estate will be sold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Napoleon, Joliclerc, and the Empire<\/h2>\n\n

Commissioner during the Revolution, then an agent for Napoleon I's intelligence networks, Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier Joliclerc contributed to the dismantling of Cadoudal's plot. The Emperor gifted him the estate and appointed him to high office in Italy; he married the daughter of a general whose name is engraved on the Arc de Triomphe.<\/p>\n\n

Upon the fall of the Empire, he settled in Collias in 1815, bringing with him Italian artists who transformed the ch\u00e2teau: painted ceilings by artists from the peninsula, granito floors, marble bathtubs with swan-neck faucets, a grand outdoor staircase, a grotto for cooling \u2014 and a library with hundreds of surviving books and archives dating back to the 14th century.<\/p>\n\n

Having become mayor, he mortgages one hundred hectares of the ch\u00e2teau's estate to provide the village with a bridge, and rests, out of humility, in the mass grave of Collias.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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19th-Century Families and Gardens<\/h2>\n\n

His daughter marries the lawyer Des Portes: six children grow up in the park. Their daughter marries the Marquis de Laqueuille, writer for the Revue des Deux Mondes, who died at thirty-two in Collias.<\/p>\n\n

In 1866, Numa Ausset decorated the salons in the Second Empire style and had J. Cordioux design an English garden inspired by the villas of the French Riviera: a pond, rockery, winding stream, palm trees, and rare plant species.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00abThere, a splendid, striking panorama unfolds at our feet: far below, the Gardon meanders between rugged, wooded heights, giving the landscape a wild aspect, yet one of genuine beauty.\u00bb
\u2014 Gard Horticultural Society, park visit, 1902<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Candle auction and the long sleep<\/h2>\n\n

In 1911, the castle is sold by candlelight\u2014a solemn, almost theatrical auction that brings a cycle to a close. The nephew who acquired it, wounded during the Great War, yields one hundred hectares of vines and the cellars.<\/p>\n\n

The 20th century fragments the estate and lets it fall into slumber: the library is partly dispersed, the drawing rooms empty out, right up to the collapse of a wing in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The Renaissance<\/h2>\n\n

In 2019, a complete restoration begins: roofs, facades, reception rooms, bedrooms\u2014every space recovers its volumes and light. In 2021, nearly two thousand trees are planted.<\/p>\n\n

Once again a place for hosting guests \u2014 formerly a five-star hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant \u2014 the ch\u00e2teau is now dedicated to private stays and receptions, facing the gorges classified as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tell us about your plans<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay in a castle<\/a> Discover the rooms<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L\u2019histoire du Ch\u00e2teau de Collias Depuis pr\u00e8s de mille ans, le Ch\u00e2teau de Collias veille sur les gorges du Gardon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1708","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"kubio_ai_page_context":{"short_desc":"","purpose":"general"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chateaudecollias.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chateaudecollias.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chateaudecollias.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chateaudecollias.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chateaudecollias.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1708"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/chateaudecollias.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1830,"href":"https:\/\/chateaudecollias.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1708\/revisions\/1830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chateaudecollias.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1708"}],"curies":[{"name":"WP","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}