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Chamarande: A New Lease on Life
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The Essonne region abounds in chateaus, parks, and magnificent properties. Still in private hands, Courances, Courson, and Jeurre are beautiful but difficult to visit. This is not the case for Chamarande, which belongs to the Essonne local government and is open all year round. A paradise for photographers and promenade fans, slowly awakening from its torpor and becoming a cultural center with contemporary
exhibits.
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Between Arpajon and Estampes, forty kilometers from Paris, the Chamarande park sprawls over 99 hectares, surrounding an impressive brick and stone chateau with 17th-century architecture.
Once you’ve passed through the impressive entry gate, the sober architecture of the chateau overwhelms you: a perfectly balance of white and stone, of red bricks and the black slate roof.
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There are very few decorations, and the large windows with small checks echo the colonnades of the façade -- a perfect display of somber yet chic décor. Perhaps the most alluring characteristic of the façade is its exceptional relation to sunlight, like the western façade on the park that is illuminated with tones of bright red very early in the morning and at the end of the
afternoon.
The chateau is bordered by enormous buildings that now house the Essonne archives. These include a collection of documents dating all the way back to the 12th
century, as well as a reference library for history, art history, and geography (free access from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6 pm). Charmande also boasts an English-style park of nearly 100 hectares, with weeping
beeches, Louisiana cypresses, marsh oaks… Many of the park’s numerous buildings are themselves historical monuments, like the graceful Belvedere
pavilion, the chapel (a chef d’oeuvre of decorative art), the Contant d’Ivry
auditory, and the basement icebox that served as a natural refrigerator.
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The Chamarande property wouldn’t be with us today if the Essonne region hadn’t taken it over in 1978. Between 1851 and 1978, no less than nine different owners resided there. The property was reduced from more than 1,700 hectares to 200 hectares (park and forest), several development projects fell through, and the immense buildings (15,000 square meters) weren’t well maintained by their occupants.
In 1978, when a bankruptcy syndicate decided to divide Chamarande into seven different lots, the Essonne prefect, Paul Cousseran, purchased it for the region at a ridiculously puny
price.
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In 2000, 66 artists from the 1960s to today breathed new life into the exterior of the chateau, among them Ben, Bouillon, Combas, Dietman, Rancillac, Séchas, Villéglé…. Their banners proudly floated in the air near the little island and the lovers’ bridge. Inside, an exhibit of three renowned young artists nourished the place with new creations. Thus the world of contemporary art has given this ancient home a new lease on life, and it’s worth a visit just to witness this phenomenon.
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