Located a few kilometres from Angoulême, Balzac Castle is classified as a Historic Monument and has the Maison des Illustres label.
Built around 1600, the Hermitage of the famous Charentais writer Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, Academician and restorer of the French language in the 17th century, the Château de Balzac houses many treasures such as the large vaulted hall and 17th century frescos, the kitchen, the living rooms, the paved courtyard, the well, the washhouse, the canal, the 17th century entrance gate, the column gallery, the Charentais porch, the small museum - objects from the 13th to 18th centuries, the old chapel from the 13th century...
It was the residence of the fields where the Guez withdrew when they left their house in Angouleme "embellished and enriched with such exquisite rarities", wrote Saint-Romuald, that from March 4 to August 29, 1619, Marie de Médicis "did not want to make her stay elsewhere, until the peace that her son Louis Treizième gave her".
During the Queen Mother's stay with the Guez, the seigneury of Balzac became the crossroads where the elite of the time, Richelieu, the Duke of Epernon, the Cardinal of La Rochefoucauld, the Count of Béthune, the Queen Mother met...
The castle has also been used as a filming location for movies such as Les mystères de la Duchesses, directed by Emmanuelle Dubergey and starring Lorie Pester and Jérémy Banster, which aired on France 3 in September 2022. Other films shot at the château include Secret d'Histoire, presented by Stéphane Bern on Marie de Médicis, Demain je me marie, a TV movie starring Catherine Jacob and directed by Vincent Giovanni, broadcast on M6 in February 2011, and L'homme qui venait d'ailleurs, a TV movie shot at the Château de Balzac, directed by François Luciani in 2004 and broadcast on TF1.
The Château de Balzac is listed in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments and has received several awards:
2004: Parks and Gardens of France Award
2006: 1st National Prize for Old French Houses
2013: Maison des Illustres label from the Ministry of Culture
2020: “Restoration Assistance” Award from the Mérimée Foundation
2023: French Heritage Society Award
Things to see during your visit:
- Large 12th/13th-century vaulted hall with unique acoustics and vegetable garden
- 17th-century salon renovated in the 18th century with curved wood paneling
- Paved courtyard, well, and 17th-century wrought iron entrance gate
17th-century frescoes
- 18th-century colonnades, outbuildings, and 17th-century Charente-style porch
- 12th/13th-century Romanesque church of Saint Martin
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
The castle is open to the public all summer long.
Find out more at www.chateaudebalzac.fr
The castle of Balzac
Place Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac
16430 Balzac
Tel. 05 45 45 68 68 42 69
mairie@balzac.fr
http://www.angouleme-tourisme.com/432-chateau-de-balzac
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
