Last Wednesday, some of the students and all our boys went to visit the “Château de Coppet,” a wonderful architectural piece just 20 minutes away.
A little bit of history:
The Château of Coppet was founded around 1280 by Humbert IV of Thoire and Villars. Of the medieval fortress, only the south wing of the current classical building remains. The château was stormed and burned by the Bernese in 1536, during the conquest of the Pays de Vaud.
In 1657, the château was acquired by Frederick, Burgrave of Dohna. He and his son Alexander remodelled the château into a classic U-shaped structure. Except for a few later additions, we owe the château’s current appearance to the Genevan banker Jean-Jacques Hogguer. The park was, at the time, a garden in the French style.
Acquired in 1784 as a summer residence by Jacques Necker, a Genevan banker and former minister to Louis XVI, King of France, the château was subsequently completely restored by Necker, who spent the last years of his life there with his wife Suzanne, born Suzanne Curchod. They are buried together in the family mausoleum built in 1793-1794.
Later, major improvements were carried out by Necker’s grandson, Auguste de Staël, who transformed the French garden into an English-style park and created a remarkable Return from Egypt Empire-style library in 1819. His grand-niece, Mathilde d’Haussonville, built a Gothic Revival-style chapel within the château in 1880.
Since Necker, the château has remained in the same family. Necker’s daughter Germaine de Staël inherited it in 1804. She bequeathed the château to her son Auguste, who died prematurely in 1827. His widow, Adelaide de Staël, born Adeleide Vernet, lived there for nearly 50 years. She bequeathed the château to her niece Louise de Broglie, the Countess Haussonville, who was also the granddaughter of Madame de Staël.
Since then, the Haussonville family still owns and lives in the château, ensuring its conservation while keeping alive the memory of this special place for current and future generations.
All the groups were taken through the rooms of the castle, knowing a little bit of what happened there.
