La Mothe-Chandeniers Up in Flames

Like so many historic buildings, La Mothe-Chandeniers met its end through a fire in March of 1932. The owner at the time, Baron Lejeune, had just installed central heat, when a huge fire tore through the castle. Firefighters arrived from all over the region and worked tirelessly to save the castle and its contents. Sadly, the only buildings not touched by the flames were the chapel, some outbuildings, and the dovecote. 

Experts estimated the damages in the millions at the time. Rare tapestries, historic items, paintings, and the entire library had all gone up in flames. All of those artifacts were priceless historic items. Replacing them was not possible. La Mothe-Chandeniers changed hands after the Algerian War in 1963 from the 4th Baron's widow to retired industrialist Jules Cavroy. And once again in the 1980s, when an American math professor bought it in order to restore it.

Saving the Castle

But, the damages were too extensive and the costs much too high to restore the castle. And this is usually where the story of many castle ruins ends. They fall into disrepair and eventually nature claims back the castle and its grounds...not so for La Mothe-Chandeniers. This is where its incredible story truly begins. Like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, La Mothe-Chandeniers has been saved, much to my own delight. 

Image Source: Par Pierre Mairé — www.pixAile.com, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1356813

How exactly do you save a burnt-out castle ruin that needs millions of euros in repairs? You sell it to thousands of people around the globe! Later, I will tell you about the incredible way thousands of people saved La Mothe-Chandeniers. First, I will tell you how I found this castle and about its impressive history spanning nearly 800 years. So, let's dive in and let me introduce the Fairytale of La Mothe to you.   

Honey, I'm Buying a Castle!

In 2015, on a snowy winter day in Canada, I was browsing Facebook. Somebody had posted a picture of a castle in a lake, snowy branches poking through the windows and doors. At first, I was so taken in by the castle that I did not even notice it was a ruin. There was something so special about the way it just blended into nature. It seemed so peaceful. It was love at first sight for me.

I pretty much jumped up and shouted to my boyfriend (who is now my husband) that I was moving to France and buying a castle. A few minutes later, I was on the phone with a friend of mine, who had been a TV and radio correspondent in France for a long time. I needed to know who owned this castle and what it would take for me to buy it. I also found a drone video of the castle, which only added fuel to the fire.   

Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/infraredd/24814772732/in/album-72157664865591130/

Where is La Mothe-Chandeniers?

As I quickly found out, La Mothe-Chandeniers is located in the Loire Valley in France. This did not come as a surprise, since the Loire River boasts a huge amount of castles along both riverbanks. Some of the most famous castles in the world are located along the Loire. You can find La Mothe about 30 minutes southeast of Saumur. Its famous neighbors include Château de Saumur, Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, and the Château de Montreuil-Bellay, just to name a few.   

Image Source: https://www.comtogether.fr/partenariat/chateau-de-la-mothe-chandeniers/

The early History of the Château

The castle was first mentioned under the name La Motte-Bauçay. It was originally a medieval fortress owned by the Bauçay family. In 1404, Marie de Bauçay married Guillaume II de Chaunay, Seigneur of Champdenier. They renamed the castle Mothe Champdenier. In 1420 the castle and its vast lands passed into the De Rochechouart family. This happened through the marriage of Anne de Chaunay and Jean de Rochechouart.

By 1530 the castle's state had become dilapidated. The building still retained its layout of a medieval fortress. A survey from that time mentions several different towers. An old destroyed tower, a round tower or high tower, the half-timbered tower, the vaulted tower, the new tower, and another unnamed tower. The owners built the more modern towers on the foundations of these old towers.

Having taken part in the Fronde, a series of French civil wars, the Marquis François II de Rochechouart-Chandenier fell out of favor with the king. The king exiled François from his court to Loudun in Anjou. He ended up settling at La Mothe Chandenier in 1654. The castle was still in a dilapidated state. François transformed the estate into an opulent residence surrounded by gardens and parks. Unfortunately, he could not maintain his expensive lifestyle and ended up leaving the estate to his creditors.

18th and 19th Centuries at La-Mothe

The castle then passed to Guillaume Urbain de Lamoignon, Comte de Courson through inheritance. One the of the latter's daughters, Anne-Victoire de Lamoignon, married René Charles de Maupéou (1688-1775). He was Vice-Chancellor and Keeper of the Seals of France. The castle passed into Anne-Victoire's possession in 1766. While the castle was in possession of the Lamoignon and Maupéou families, it castle was hardly inhabited and again fell into disrepair.

Image Source: https://mothe-chandeniers.com/fr/decouvrir/

After passing through several families, the castle was entirely abandoned and became a ruin. François Hennecart, a wealthy Parisian entrepreneur, then bought the castle in 1809. He undertook a restoration campaign with the aim of restoring the castle to its splendid state of the time of François de Rochechouart.

His successors, Baron Edgard Lejeune and his wife Marie Ardouin, in turn undertook a massive reconstruction campaign in the neo-Gothic style and the Romantic movement around 1870. The architect in charge, whose identity remains unknown to this day, took inspiration from many of the Loire castles for the rebuilding works.

The Chapel and Lake of La-Mothe-Chandeniers

The castle is set in a lake, connected through several canals. The vast lands and forests that once belonged to the castle have long been split up between several different owners. In 2018, a crowdfunding effort reunited part of the outbuildings and the parcel housing the Chapel with the main castle estate. In total, this crowdfunding campaign added about 5 acres back to the castle estate in a purchase approved and financed by the co-owners.

Image Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_la_Mothe-Chandeniers#/media/Fichier:Les_Trois-Moutiers_-_Ch%C3%A2teau_de_la_Mothe-Chandeniers_-_La_Chapelle.jpg

Source: https://mothe-chandeniers.com/fr/et-si-on-adoptait-le-parc-et-la-chapelle-de-la-mothe-chandeniers/

Image Source: https://mothe-chandeniers.com/fr/et-si-on-adoptait-le-parc-et-la-chapelle-de-la-mothe-chandeniers/

The Concept of Castle Co-Owners

So, in the end I was able to buy this dream castle I had found on the Internet. Although maybe not exactly how I had envisioned it. Saving La Mothe was a financial undertaking that one single owner could not easily manage. In 2017, Dartagnans and Adopte un Château came together to crowdfund the restoration and maintenance of La Mothe-Chandeniers.   

Instead of just raising the money needed, the idea was to create a company that would own the castle and estate of La-Mothe-Chandeniers. Each donor would become an investor, hence legally owning a part of the castle. The size of the share depended on the amount of the investment.   

This is how La Mothe ended up being the largest co-owned property in the world. As of 2021, 27,910 investors from 115 different countries own the castle, and raised over 2 million euros to save the castle. There is a big vision for this fairytale castle, and it seems that its journey really has just begun. It is a truly unique project. The success of its crowdfunding campaign has shown that it is possible to come together from all corners of the world to preserve our history.

You can learn more about La Mothe on their website and find out how you can visit this incredible castle or even become a co-owner!