Château de Saint-Fargeau

In the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, specifically in the Yonne department, is the Château de Saint-Fargeau. The castle complex is characterized by its unusual pentagonal shape with massive corner towers.

The origins of the estate date back to 980, when Bishop Héribert d’Auxerre had a fortified hunting lodge built here. The current structure began to take shape from 1453. The castle experienced a phase from 1652 when Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, known as La Grande Mademoiselle, was exiled here. She commissioned François Le Vau, brother of Louis Le Vau, for renovations that lasted from 1653 to 1657. In 1713, ownership passed to the Le Pelletier family. Later, the writer Jean d’Ormesson spent his childhood here, inspiring his novel “Au plaisir de Dieu,” which was adapted into a film in 1976.