Château de Coucy

GET TO KNOW THE CHÂTEAU DE COUCY
The castle of a powerful family. In 1214, Enguerrand III de Coucy took part in the victory of the Battle of Bouvines, near Lille, the first major European battle and cement of nascent national feeling. In the 14th century, Enguerrand VII de Coucy, a great diplomat, turned it into a sumptuous palace.

A decor that survives its disappearance. The first known representation of the iconographic theme of the Neuf Preuses, sculpted on a monumental fireplace fitted out in Coucy by Louis d'Orléans around 1400 and published in the 16th century by Androuet du Cerceau, inspired in the 19th century the architect Viollet-le-Duc to realize the fireplace in the great room of the Château de Pierrefonds.

Four centuries of destruction. Dismantled in 1652, the castle was used as a stone quarry until its acquisition by Louis-Philippe in 1829, then by the State in 1848. Several architects, including Viollet-le-Duc, succeeded each other to preserve the ruins. During the First World War, the four towers and the keep were destroyed by the German army.

The first Sunday of each month there is a market.
The panorama is magnificent.
This place is very pleasant.

Coucy-le-Château-Auffrique is a commune in the French department of Aisne and has 995 inhabitants. The place is part of the Laon arrondissement. Coucy-le-Château-Auffrique, named after the castle of Coucy, together with the neighboring commune of Coucy-la-Ville, formed the center of the barony of Coucy, which played an important role in French history. The feudal and powerful barons, who always called themselves "Sire de Coucy" and rejected higher titles under the motto "Roi ne suis Ne prince ne duc ne comte aussi; Je suis le sire de Coucy", dominated the area north of Paris. After the death of the last baron, the domain became part of the Duchy of Orléans, appanage of the brother of the French king and his descendants. In 1792 the area was seized by the French state. The huge keep of the castle, the largest medieval keep, was blown up by the German army in the First World War.