Chateau de Couterne, Renaissance castle in Rives d'Andaine, France.
Chateau de Couterne is a granite manor house faced in pink brick, flanked by two round towers and surrounded by water, in Rives d'Andaine. Its facade rises to a steep dark slate roof with a tall domed section on the right and a smaller dome on the left, above three levels of windows. A gravel courtyard and a low stone wall with iron gates stand in front.
Jehan de Frotté, secretary and controller-general of finances to Marguerite de Navarre, acquired the 15th-century castle in 1542. A marquis de Frotté raised the manor by one storey shortly before the Revolution, added two brick pavilions and reduced the six round towers to two. The château was a centre of Chouannerie in the Orne under Louis de Frotté; it was listed as a monument historique on 17 April 1931.
The castle received official recognition as a historical monument on April 17, 1931, marking its architectural and historical value to French heritage.
The castle stands in a 20-hectare park crossed by three kilometres of avenues, with the front facade facing a cour d'honneur and terraced gardens behind, enclosed by moats. Approach on foot along the lanes to see the brick-and-granite walls and the water around the building.
Six round towers originally flanked the manor; four were demolished in the 18th century when a Marquis de Frotté raised the building by one storey and added two brick pavilions. The two surviving round towers still stand, and the family de Frotté held the castle into the 21st century.
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