From beavers to horses, a thousand years of history in Lamotte-Beuvron.
In the heart of the Sologne region, the Château de Lamotte-Beuvron bears the traces of a thousand-year history. From the feudal mound of the Middle Ages to the splendor of the Second Empire, via the penal colony and experimental agriculture, this place has never stopped evolving.
Today, it houses the Federal Equestrian Park, a mecca for equestrian sports and culture. A place where history and the future meet.
©FFE-PSV
We are around the year 1000. The Beuvron is populated by beavers, which give their name to the river. In Celtic, beaver is called beber, hence Beuvron and Bièvres. In 1393, Lord Guichard Dauphin surrounded La Motte with a palisade with a gate and drawbridge. In 1489, with the development of artillery and cannons, wooden fortifications became obsolete. The first stone building, traces of which can be found under the castle, was built on the site of the old Motte. In 1567, the Renaissance saw the decline of medieval fortifications. Lord Gilbert de Lévis de Ventadour built the residence that can be seen to the north of the castle.
©FFE/DR
©Édition Ollier
In the 17th century, having inherited the estate, the Archbishop of Bourges, Anne de Lévis de Ventadour, built a new château with a three-part façade on the site of the feudal motte. In 1806, agricultural experimentation was in vogue, which successive owners pursued after the Revolution. They even tried rice paddies. In 1852, looking for a property close to his family home in La Ferté-Beauharnais, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte bought the Château de Lamotte. When the Prince-President proclaimed himself Napoleon III, the property became an Imperial Estate. The aim was to turn it into a model farm. In 1872, under the Third Republic, the estate was transferred to the Ministry of Justice, which turned it into a public penal colony until 1992. The first director, a clergyman, placed the colony under the patronage of Saint Maurice. In 1879, the chapel, built to the south of the château, was consecrated.
In 1914, the Saint-Maurice estate hosted a sixty-bed volunteer military hospital for wounded soldiers from the Great War. In 1994, the Poney Club de France created the Parc Equestre National, which became federal in 2000. The headquarters of the French Equestrian Federation since 2006, the park houses the FFE's administrative offices. It is designed to host major events, club training courses, sports training courses, seminars and conferences.
©FFE/DR
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