Hello and welcome to the Domain of Château de Modave, a prestigious site in the heart of Wallonia, in a 450-hectare nature reserve. So here we are on a site that dates back to the Middle Ages. It was completely restored and repurposed in the XVIIᵉ century. Geographically, we're in the province of Liège, formerly the Principality of Liège This site is in the heart of the Liège Condroz region. So here we are, at the gateway to the Ardennes, about 35kms from the city of Liège and 15kms from the nearby town of Huy. This 450-hectare nature reserve was created to protect a very large underground water reserve, since the château is currently owned by the Vivaqua company. Vivaqua is the company that distributes water in our capital, Brussels? And so 20% of Vivaqua's production water is captured here, in the Modave subsoil. So this is a very important aspect, which means that the nature reserve is classified as Natura 2000. And so we're really in a green setting. As far as history is concerned, the château itself, as I said, was built in the Middle Ages, as were the outbuildings surrounding the inner courtyard, and the two farmhouses adjoining the inner courtyard, which are a little later. They date from the late XVIIᵉ century. The château has been owned by several families. Let's just concentrate on the most important ones, at least those that have left tangible proof of their passage here through Modave. And of course, the Count of Marchin, to whom we owe the reconstruction and restoration of this château from 1653 onwards. So, from the ruins of a fortified keep, he created a beautiful, prestigious French-style residence. The Comte de Marchin was a military advisor and diplomat to Louis XII, close to Condé, and at the end of his military career, he returned here to the land of his ancestors, in the Principality of Liège. Marchin is the neighboring village to Modave. So he really did return to the land of his ancestors to rebuild this château and give it the allure of classic French architecture of the mid-17ᵉ century. His concession to the local style is the marriage of red brick and local stone, the small Vinalmont limestone found on all buildings of the period here in the region. And so this is the concession he will make to associate this style of classical French architecture with the Mosan style that will be called Mosan in the XVIIIᵉ century. But enough of this very long introduction. I now invite you inside the château. We're here in the guard room. The largest room in Château de Modave, it features a remarkable ceiling. Armoria with the arms of the Count of Marchin. Here, he wanted to show the family's origins, in other words, he wanted the region he was returning to at the end of his military career to welcome him with all the honors due to his rank. In fact, he had made a name for himself during all these military campaigns, notably in France and Spain, but was paradoxically little known on his home turf in the Principality of Liège. And so one of the ways was, through this ascending family tree, to show the family's nobility. So this family tree was made in 1666-1667 by a Dutch stucco artist named Jan-Christian Hansche. He worked in various parts of the château. We'll get to that in a moment. Also of note in this guardroom is a beautiful black Mazi marble fireplace, also from the XVIIᵉ century. Monumental mantel in black marble, which was highly prized at the time for its low reflection and few white veins. I invite you to follow me. We'll now take a tour of the château's apartments. We first pass through the small blue lounge. Before moving on to the tapestry room. So the Salon des Tapisseries, somewhat erroneously called the Salon des Gobelins gobelins, became so dominant that now, whenever we have old tapestries, we tend to call them gobelins. Although all three tapestries are from Brussels. Here, in the lower right-hand corner of the largest of the three, are the two Bs, Brussels and Brabant. These are illustrations of Caesar's reign, with his troops marching in Alexandria to impress Cleopatra, and also in front of the head of his rival Pompey. Tapestries are obviously referred to as exceptional decor, but everyone knows that they are first and foremost thermal insulators. It's not surprising that they're to be found in this part of the château. We're on the north side. The most difficult part to reheat. Very rich stucco decorations on the ceilings and mantelpiece. Here, the legend of the twelve labors of Hercules was evoked. We saw earlier that the Comte de Machin wanted, I'd say, to identify with the family tree showing the nobility from which he came. Well, here we have another, most likely a little megalomania on the part of the character, since here he's trying to identify himself with that mythological hero Hercules. The Twelve Labors of Hercules is completed in the next room, the château's grand dining room. This is the theme of Hercules. As I said, it can be seen here on the ceiling, but also on the mantelpiece showing the wedding between Hercules and B. And this dining room was used in the XIXᵉ century by the owners of the time, notably to organize large hunting banquets. As I said, the château is fortunate enough to be located in the middle of a large green area that is currently a nature reserve. At the time, this was also a very gamey area, and it was quite common to organize large hunting parties followed by dinners. So, on the dining room table, here we find part of the service made at the Gien faience factory in the 1870s by, I'd say, the Lamarche family and their descendants. In fact, each piece of the service is marked Château de Modave. So clearly, the castle is identified even on the service. The glasses that accompany this service come from Val Saint-Lambert. We're not very far from Seraing, the Belgian crystal glassworks that underwent major expansion in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some glasses are even finely chiselled, with hunting scenes found on champagne glasses. So much for this dining room, which is also very richly furnished, with an impressive collection of XVIIIᵉ century Dutch marketée chairs, Dutch marquetry, which often referred to natural motifs, so more flowers, greenery motifs, all enhanced with mother-of-pearl and ivory elements to give a little relief to this marquetry. 18ᵉ. So here we leave an apartment that was more of a showpiece. We'll cross the small hall and find ourselves in what used to be a family apartment. Then there's the family salon, where we really find the characteristics of a late 17th-early 18th-century dining room, with large murals depicting landscapes, in this case of the countryside around Rome. Once again, I'd like to mention the Dutch influence, which was quite strong here in the Principality of Liège. The influence of the southern Netherlands, since these paintings are attributed to a Dutch painter by the name of Cornelius. Class 28 Rügen. So these landscapes, in fact, are. It's quite remarkable that when you're sitting in the middle of the room, you get this perspective effect all around, which is quite pretty. So I'm also taking advantage of the fact that the place is quite richly furnished to point out that this is one of the hallmarks of Modave castle. The vast majority of the furniture has in fact belonged to the various owner families. Very few items were brought back afterwards to make up the exhibition. Also noteworthy is a black Dinant marble mantelpiece, here surmounted by two Japanese porcelain vases, known as Mari. So all these extreme oriental objects found throughout the chateau, well, were brought in in the 19ᵉ by Jules Antoine, the industrial march and owner of the chateau at the time, who had decorated his interiors with what was then called chinoiseries, really very very fashionable, very fashionable phenomenon in the 19ᵉ. I'd like to invite you now to the Duc de Montmorency's bedroom, which has obviously been used as a bedroom. This name has also been retained for the other owners, as the furniture in the alcove dates from this period. The Duc de Montmorency obviously had countless properties in France, but there was this château de Modave in the principality of Liège. So this is where he came. At one point, during the troubled times of the French Revolution, he took refuge here. In fact, he was accompanied by the Count of Provence, which has led some historians to suggest that when Louis XVI fled, well, Modave could have been a fallback solution, since his brother was staying in Modave at the invitation of the Montmorency family at the time. The furniture in the alcove is very much from the Duc de Montmorency's period, as he had it made by the cabinetmaker Chevigny, and it is one of the last Chauvigny sets still known, along with the four seats and the bed. It is covered with the original Chinese blue silk woven with gold thread. Of course, this is in stark contrast to the other seats in the room, which have been restored. We've kept the authentic character of this Chevigny furniture. So we're going to take a break from our inside tour and head for the terrace, where we'll have a very, very good view of the Hoyoux valley, the little river that meanders below the château. So it's no coincidence that the castle was built on this rocky spur as far back as the Middle Ages. In fact, the river that meanders here below, which is a tributary of the Meuse, flows into the Meuse. Ah yes! This river, called the Hoyoux, was also one of the main entrances to the town of Oui, but also one of the entrances to the Principality of Liège. So here was a strategic place to defend. It's a fortified keep that was built as early as the XIᵉ century, here on the castle site. So this keep obviously grew and as the family who owned it grew politically and economically and on the ruins of this medieval keep that the Count of Marchin rebuilt the castle in the mid XVIIᵉ century. This terrace was more than likely the fourth tower of the medieval castle, which was not rebuilt since, by the XVIIᵉ century, the military vocation was no longer the priority. But this was clearly a château for pleasure, a prestigious residence, with an emphasis on opening up to nature. And God knows what he's seen here is extraordinary. As I said, this 450-hectare nature reserve is designed to preserve important underground water reserves. In fact, 60,000 cubic meters of water leave the château's underground reservoir every day to supply the city of Brussels, making it the largest underground catchment in Wallonia and accounting for 20% of the company's total production. Viva what! So we can well imagine that preserving this blue gold, as some people say, is very, very fundamental and therefore vital. What made you decide in 1941 to buy the entire estate in order to create this protection zone for these water catchments? Then it's back to the castle's interior, with a series of smaller, smaller rooms, but not lacking in interest. So first we enter a painting salon. So, once again, the Dutch school is very present in 41 paintings with landscapes or floral motifs. It was a study or office. And leaving this study on the left, a small 18ᵉ bathroom with a bathtub that had been dug out of the rock. We continue our tour, heading for the smoking lounge. So the salon fumoir, which was obviously not only a place to enjoy a good Armagnac and a good si bien after dinner, also had a social and economic vocation, since it was here that business was discussed and done. It's not for nothing that the 19th-century owner, Gilles Antoine Lamarche, an industrialist by trade, a very powerful man here in the Liège region, founded the Ougrée metallurgy works, which would later compete with Cokerie or Gray. So John, a coking company, was the march's competitor at the time, and had bought the château from him to organize large hunting parties and banquets. Invite influential figures, political or otherwise. And a good number of Liège metallurgy contracts from the 19ᵉ were signed in this room. At its center is a beautiful Indo-Portuguese games table, which I'd like to show you in a little more detail. It's quite remarkable. It features a chess set and an ivory inlay. But when you'd finished the game, all you had to do was flip the tablet over and you'd have another decoration, which really makes it a rather special table. We've almost completed our tour of the ground floor. We go through two more rooms and then find ourselves in the inner courtyard. The château's inner courtyard, which once again illustrates the transition from medieval to classical architecture in the XVIIᵉ century, with its disappearing quadrilateral aspect, a complete wall section that has not been rebuilt again with this concern for opening up to nature. I now invite you to head for the second floor. So the grand staircase at Château de Modave has a bit of a history. In fact, this is the first interior building, and therefore the first interior staircase in the Principality of Liège, to be made of stone rather than wood. Once again, this small granite became the German we were talking about at the start of our visit. This staircase is accompanied here by a Strasbourg wrought-iron banister. Once again, the Comte de Marchin wanted to innovate and bring new elements that he had found in France, here in the Principality of Liège. It's a straight-flight staircase with fourteen cm treads, so everyone can move about elegantly. Noticeable in the heart of the stairwell. A beautiful Baccarat crystal chandelier in bronze and Baccarat crystal dates from the XIXᵉ century and features 60 points of light. It weighs around 300 kilos. Continue. We enter the salon de musique, also known as the salon Louis XIV, where we find the only surviving portrait of one of the château's owners on the mantelpiece. This is Baron Arnold de Vil, owner in the first half of the XVIIIᵉ century. Basically, I'd say stuck between two things and the infamy of the Duc de Montmorency. This music room features Malinois furniture from the XIXᵉ century, but above all a beautiful hertz piano from 1868. This is a romantic piano, so it's not quite a modern piano yet, although it already has the Pleyel double escapement. This piano has been completely restored. The wood is rosewood. The soundboard has also been overhauled, and we now regularly give concerts on this ancient instrument, which has the particularity of having a slightly more metallic sound and, above all, one less fingerboard. The library continues the library, which unfortunately no longer has a very, very large collection of old books, but does have one rather interesting book, which is actually a hunting book. Yes, was recorded all the battues that were organized here in the late 19ᵉ early XXᵉ century. The list is very impressive. It was a very gamey area indeed, and hunting parties here had a reputation that extended beyond the region. Many dreamed of being invited by the aptly-named lamarche and poacher-poachers. But who owned the château back then? The bedroom of the Duchess of Montmorency. One of the walls features a portrait of the Duchess of Montmorency. A much more feminine atmosphere here, with furnishings too that give pride of place to the various French styles of the XVIIIᵉ century. We'll now move on to the most recently restored apartment here in the château. A restoration that dates back to winter 2016 2017. And it's actually to bring the Comte de Marchin's apartment back to life. I'll take you there. By the XIXᵉ century, much of the château had been partitioned and broken up in order to multiply the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and thus make it possible to keep guests to lodge after dinner parties. Then it's the. This was the case for this apartment known as the Comte de Marchin, and we decided to restore it to its XVIIᵉ century volumes. On the one hand, to reveal a very, very fine ceiling and by reed, still in the years 1666-1667, where are illustrated here various, I would say, elements that recall the brilliant military past of the Count of Marchin. But we also gave, I would say, a more 17ᵉ context to this apartment, really, to restore the atmosphere it must have had when it was occupied by Jean Gaspar Ferdinand de Marchin. So, the few mannequins you see here in fact evoke the 400ᵉ anniversary of Molière's birth, which we have decided to celebrate in our own way, here in Modave, since for the whole month of July, Tartuffe will be staged in one of the castle's rooms, in a setting, I would say almost natural, since the period corresponds to that of Molière. So here's a little preview of the piece that will be staged here in Modave over the summer. So, one more word about this apartment of the Comte de Marchin, since the. I'd say that the preliminary studies took a very long time, almost ten years, for everyone to agree on the period we were restoring, the way we were restoring it and above all the style we were restoring to this Marchin apartment, by, I'd say, trying to include the elements that were part of the château's past - the fireplaces, the panelling still present or no longer present. Here, the white ceiling, the black and gold alcove pediment and the red fabrics are in stark contrast. So it's more than likely that Cordoba leather was found here in the XVIIᵉ century. Of course, it's impossible to re-tension the walls with Cordovan leather. And so we, I would say, in reflection with the heritage commission and well decided to take a re-edition of a fabric that evokes anyway a little bit the colors that we found at 17ᵉ in this Marchin apartment. I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that the château is listed as Wallonia's outstanding heritage site, both inside and out. And that's why, as soon as we want to, I'll say restore. The negotiations are quite long and the reflections are quite long. We're almost at the end of our visit. I'll now take you to the chapel. So here's a neo-classical chapel from the XIXᵉ century, as the original chapel was burnt down during the Revolution. So it's clear that the Principality of Liège suffered a little less, I'd say, from revolutionary rage. But religious buildings were still mostly set on fire. This was the case for the château chapel and therefore in the XIXᵉ century. A chapel is being rebuilt here in a neoclassical style that is, I'd say, rare for a private chapel. And for the record, the four Evangelists, i.e. the four statues in the niches, were saved by the villagers when the chapel burned down, and they brought them back when the chapel was restored. So these are works by Luc à Faidherbe, a disciple of Rubens. So these are really very, very beautiful statues. So that wraps up our tour of Modane castle. I hope this has whetted your appetite for more. We're open to the public non-stop, from April 1ᵉʳ to November 15, with an audio guide system that is given to all our visitors, enabling them to better apprehend, I'd say, the complete tour of this château, which comprises around 25 rooms. So you need to allow a good hour to visit the interior plus the gardens, and of course, inevitably, the walk in the nature reserve, which gives you a great overview not only of the environment of this region of the Liège Condroz, but also of the Condroz architecture, quite typical of the castral farms that surround the castle.
