Château de Lunéville
The Palace of Lunéville (French: Château de Lunéville French pronunciation: [ʃɑto d(ə) lynevil]) is a residence of the Duke of Lorraine since the 13th century in Lunéville, about 35 kilometers east of Nancy, capital of Lorraine. The palace is owned by the Department Meurthe-et-Moselle since 2017. Many people visit the palace, park, or gardens of Lunéville every year, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the region.
Palace of Lunéville
A simple hunting lodge existed on the site since the 13th century. Substantial changes came with Duke Leopold I of Lorraine who expanded the château into the beginnings of a palace that went through several changes and phases from 1703 to 1720. It was a favourite residence of the former Polish king Stanislaus I, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, who made further improvements.
After the Duchy of Lorraine passed under the rule of the French crown, the palace was handed over to the military who used it largely as a barrack. A number of buildings disappeared during that time.
The French Ministry of Culture has placed the palace, its gardens, and some of its subsidiary structures on its list of culturally significant monuments as a Monument historique.
Since only the southern half of the palace was completed, most of the important state rooms and royal apartments were located on this side towards the garden. The Ground floor plan in 1720 and later during the rule of Stanislaus I in 1753 was largely similar with some differences with the garden front rooms, which received different functions or where the wall were moved. The plan in 1753 was:[4]
The parts facing the inner courtyard were:
Facing the outer Avant-Cour are two wings, the northern wing connected to the main building and the southern wing detached:
In the main corps de logis two large staircases (l'escalier d'honneur) on the northern and southern side led to the first floor. The first floor consisted of rooms and apartments of court members, such as Duke Franciszek Maksymilian Ossoliński and Duchess Ossoliński, the grand escuyer, grand marshall, ladies-in-waiting, grand almoner, office of the chancellor, chamberlains, etc.[6]
The assignment during the previous rulers was slightly different, but largely the same.[5] In 2014 the departement of Meurthe-et-Moselle commissioned a video of how the bedchamber of the duchess would have looked like during the times of Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans (1676–1744).[7]
Little is left of the original interior decoration and arrangements. The state authorities are working on repairing the damaged parts of the great fire of 2003.[8] Acquisitions have been ongoing to bring back lost items such as mirrors, paintings, furniture and other original works of art.[9][10][11]
Media related to Palace and gardens of Lunéville at Wikimedia Commons