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The Château la Muette was a castle located in Paris, France near the Porte de de la Muette on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne until the 1920s, when it was demolished to make room for a wealthy housing estate.
It was built for Marguerite de Valois, the first wife of Henri IV. Louis XV, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette lived at the château. The first manned flight commenced from the château in a hot air balloon in 1783.
History
The meaning of the name "Muette" is not certain. It may have derived from:
- muete, a spelling which appears frequently up to the end of the eighteenth century and which signifies a pack of deer-hounds (meute);
- the mues or horns which stags shed in the autumn; or
- the mue or moulting-period of hunting hawks.
Marguerite de Valois
This hunting-lodge was transformed into a small château for Marguerite de Valois (popularly known as Reine Margot), the first wife of Henri IV. Although their marriage was always rocky and eventually annulled, they were became friends late in life and she was able to return to Paris and set up house in the château. Marguerite bequeathed her château to the little Dauphin, later Louis XIII.From 1606 to 1792, the property remained part of the royal estates. In 1716 the château became the home of the Duchesse de Berry, Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, (1695–1719) daughter of the Duc d'Orléans, Regent of France. Tsar Peter the Great of Russia visited her here.
Lous XV
On the Duchesse de Berry's death, the château passed to the young King King Louis XV (1710-74). Ten royal children were born here between 1727 and 1737, including Louis Ferdinand, dauphin de France (1729–1765), the father of King Louis XVI (1754–1793). Later, however, the King used the Château to entertain his mistresses, including the three de Nesle sisters, Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry.During this period, the château was rebuilt by the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel in the form in which it survived until the early 1920's.
Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette
King Louis XV is said to have spent the happiest days of his life at the château with his young bride, Marie-Antoinette, although they had no knowledge of sexual matters and thus did not have children for seven years. During this period Louis abolished certain royal taxes and he opened the gates of the Bois de Boulogne to the populace. The Emperor Joseph II, Marie-Antoinette's brother (travelling incognito under the name of "Count Falkenstein") visited the couple here in April 1777.Louis granted a small area of sandy ground of the château's estate at les Sablons (near les Sablons metro station to Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (1737–1813) to demonstrate the growing of potatoes, which had previously not been considered as safe for human consumption in Europe, outside of Ireland. Indeed, they were considered to be a source of leprosy among other things. Parmentier carried out a series of publicity stunts, which led to the acceptance of potatoes in France and then throughout Europe.
Montgolfier brothers
The first manned flight commenced from the château in a Montgolfier brothers hot air balloon on 21 November 1783, carrying Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes. Among the crowd who observed this feat were the royal family and Benjamin Franklin. They flew for 25 minutes about 100 meters above Paris for a distance of nine kilometers and landed between the windmills on the Butte-aux-Cailles. Enough fuel remained on board at the end of the flight to have allowed the balloon to fly four to five times as far. However, burning embers from the fire were scorching the balloon fabric and had to be daubed out with sponges. Thus the pilots decided to land as soon as they were over open countryside.Post revolutionary history
During the French Revolution, the Château de la Muette became state property. The property was split up into several lots and sold at auction. The château itself became the property of Sébastien Érard, who manufactured pianos used by Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. In 1821, Sébastien Érard invented the double escapement action, which permitted a note to be repeated even if the key had not yet risen to its maximum vertical position, a great benefit for rapid playing.
In 1912 the château's then owner sold much of the remaining property, and the former estate developed into into a fashionable residential area. At the same time, the construction of the present château was started, as the Paris residence of Baron Henri James de Rothschild (1872-1947). By the beginning of World War II the Château de Ia Muette had been completely demolished had been replaced by mansions.
The new château
The new château was appropriated by the German Army during the War and it was taken over by the United States Army after the liberation of France. In 1949, it became the headquarters of theOrganization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) set up under the Marshall Plan to help administer funds provided by the United states to promote post-war recovery and to encourage European economic cooperation. The OEEC developed into the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1961, with the Château de la Muette as its headquarters.External links
This article is partly based on History of the Château de la Muette, by Michael Oborne, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, accessed on 01-07-2006
"Château de la Muette"