Castle of La Bastie d'Urfé, Renaissance castle and museum in Saint-Étienne-le-Molard, France
Castle of La Bastie d'Urfé is a Renaissance residence in Saint-Étienne-le-Molard with carefully designed stone facades and landscaped grounds. Its rooms display period furnishings and decorative elements that reflect how people lived during that era.
A monastic barn owned by the priory of Champdieu stood here in the 11th century. In 1270 it passed by marriage to Arnoul d'Ulphé, whose family fortified it with moats and a drawbridge. Claude d'Urfé, ambassador to the Council of Trent, rebuilt it from 1547 into a Renaissance residence, adding an east wing around 1555.
Honoré d'Urfé grew up at La Bâtie and set his pastoral novel L'Astrée (1607–1627) in the surrounding Forez countryside, placing the castle and the banks of the Lignon at its centre. In the park, the Fontaine de la Vérité d'Amour has been restored, modelled on the fountain Adamas had built for Céladon.
The castle is visited on a guided tour, while the garden is freely accessible to everyone. The Département de la Loire has managed and restored the site since 2007, after major works begun in 1990.
The chapel once held exceptional intarsia wood panels with intricate geometric patterns and fine craftsmanship. Those carved pieces are now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection in New York.
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