Photo : Mickaël Schauli / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Château de Saverne
The Rohan castle overlooks the centre of Saverne, at the gates of the Vosges. It replaces a medieval episcopal residence, mentioned as early as 1387, modernised by Robert de Cotte for Bishop Armand-Robert Gaston de Rohan-Soubise. Fires in 1709 then in 1779 destroyed it largely.
Cardinal Louis de Rohan then had a larger neoclassical palace raised, but, exiled after the Affair of the Queen's Necklace, he never resided there. The Revolution interrupted the work in 1790; the building was finally completed under Napoleon III, who housed widows of senior officials there. It became a German barracks in 1871, then a French one in 1918, before becoming a municipal cultural institution in 1952.
The long pink sandstone façade faces the canal and the gardens laid out to a plan by Robert de Cotte. The castle now houses the Saverne museums, with archaeology, history and art collections, as well as a performance hall. It is protected as a historic monument.
