Château de Lunéville

About

The castle of Lunéville has been a residence of the Dukes of Lorraine since the 13th century, first occasional and then official from the 18th century. It was built for Duke Léopold I between 1703 and 1720 on the plans of Pierre Bourdict, Nicolas Dorbay and Germain Boffrand without the north wing for lack of means, leaving it its present, dissymmetric form. When Leopold I took over his duchy in 1697, he could not afford to take over the renovation of the Ducal Palace in Nancy.

During the new occupation of the duchy by the French army, he retired to Lunéville and completely rebuilt the castle, inspired by the Palace of Versailles. He made it his principal residence and died there in 1729. His son, Duke Francis III, was forced to surrender his possessions to the exiled King of Poland, Stanislas Leszczyński.

He died accidentally there in February 1766. The Duchy was then annexed by France. Louis XV of France undertook to destroy a large number of Lorrain castles, but Lunéville was preserved and transformed into barracks.

Since 2017, the county council of Meurthe-et-Moselle has owned the entire castle. Masterpiece...