Château de Crolles, Medieval castle in Crolles, France.
Château de Crolles, also called château de Bernis, is a former fortified house built in 1340 near the centre of Crolles. It consists of two adjoining rectangular buildings with round towers, a steep tiled roof, dormer windows, pale blue shutters and a round stone tower with a conical roof. Inside are a large gallery with a French ceiling, a small salon with 18th-century woodwork and a chapel.
Amblard de Beaumont built the fortified house in 1340. It was transformed in the 15th, 17th and 18th centuries; in the 17th century Claude Frère, first president of the Parlement du Dauphiné, added the great gallery and the small salon. Henri IV visited on 15 August 1600, and Louis XIII with Cardinal Richelieu in 1639. The Bernis family has owned it since 1810.
The large gallery has a French-style beamed ceiling and 17th-century painted decoration, including pictures of the château and its formal gardens. At its end is the chapel, whose vault shows Christ, the Virgin and the Four Evangelists; it was consecrated in 1673 by Étienne Le Camus, Bishop of Grenoble, whose seal is set in the altar stone. A small salon keeps 18th-century painted woodwork.
The château is a private property and not open to visits. The D1090 road between Grenoble and Chambéry passes just north of the grounds, and the "mairie" stop on TouGo bus line G3 serves the château district. The building can be seen from the surrounding streets.
Cardinal Richelieu, travelling with Louis XIII in 1639, sent his own portrait to the family living here; it is still kept in one of the buildings. The king's father Henri IV had already stayed on 15 August 1600.
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