A little history of Lunéville castle
And also
The tops
1729. Stanislas Leszczynski became duke of Lorraine and wanted to transform Lunéville into his favourite estate. He moved here in 1737…
Soon he became the ″good king Stanislas″, the ″Benefactor″!
Barely arrived, Stan started to build. A real frenzy! He especially re-created the park.
Grand-daughters and a pagoda
He put statues everywhere, multiplied canals, ponds, fountains.
He also planted an alley full of orange-trees, leading to his neighbouring castle of Chanteheux.
We had the Kiosque, where Stanislas came in Summer.
It was a detached house, a kind of Chinese pagoda flanked by a gallery and a grotto.
Inside, we had a room with several windows, covered with a light linen…
Adélaïde and Victoire dined here with their grand-dad, one quiet night of August 1761!
A curse?
Stanislas died in Lunéville. The castle was abandoned. All the furniture were sold.
They transformed it into a barracks then into a barn, then the French army settled here in the 19th century.
What a sad destiny!
But… is there a curse on Lunéville? A problem with fire? Poor Stanislas died because of a fire in his castle.
And a blaze literally devoured Lunéville on January 2th 2003. A terrible accident!
2/3 of the palace were destroyed. In 2005, the restoration began.