Joinville: The Château du Grand Jardin of the Dukes of Guise
Grand Est, France
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200
XP
+100 France
= 300 total
1 day
Joinville: The Château du Grand Jardin of the Dukes of Guise
200 + 100 XP
Between 1533 and 1546 Claude of Lorraine, the first Duke of Guise, built the Château du Grand Jardin at Joinville, a great Renaissance pleasure pavilion. The department of Haute-Marne, which has owned it since 1978, restored the pavilion, recreated a garden in the Renaissance spirit and revived the Romantic park; the garden is listed as a Jardin Remarquable.
Required Activities
1
of 3
In the Chapelle Saint-Claude at the south end of the pavilion, pick out the letters C and A and the date 1546 carved in deep relief on the coffered vault, then find the two caryatids standing below — Temperance and Justice, all that is left of Claude of Lorraine's tomb from the castle destroyed at the Revolution
2
of 3
Work your way through the two Renaissance parterres east and south of the pavilion, counting the seven box-edged compartments and picking out the shapes among the hundred and forty clipped topiaries — spirals, pyramids, balls, cones and cylinders — then find the box labyrinth behind them
3
of 3
Follow the looping paths of the Romantic park, planted from the 1870s, and test its trick on yourself — it shows you the pavilion three-quarters on from one chosen view and then never takes you to it — and spot the exotics the 19th-century owners collected, the arbre aux quarante écus among them
In the Chapelle Saint-Claude at the south end of the pavilion, pick out the letters C and A and the date 1546 carved in deep relief on the coffered vault, then find the two caryatids standing below — Temperance and Justice, all that is left of Claude of Lorraine's tomb from the castle destroyed at the Revolution
Work your way through the two Renaissance parterres east and south of the pavilion, counting the seven box-edged compartments and picking out the shapes among the hundred and forty clipped topiaries — spirals, pyramids, balls, cones and cylinders — then find the box labyrinth behind them
Follow the looping paths of the Romantic park, planted from the 1870s, and test its trick on yourself — it shows you the pavilion three-quarters on from one chosen view and then never takes you to it — and spot the exotics the 19th-century owners collected, the arbre aux quarante écus among them
Before you go
The Grand Jardin opens from early April to 1 November only, and is shut the rest of the year. In spring and autumn it closes Monday and Tuesday and opens afternoons only; high summer is all day, every day. Adult entry is about 6.50 euros, reduced 4.50, free under 12. The 4.5 ha of garden and park are level and gravelled, but the pavilion's rooms are reached by spiral stairs at each end.
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About Grand Est
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
200 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
300 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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