After the success of the first two crowdfunded buyouts of endangered castles, which allowed 35,000+
backers from 115 countries to acquire and save the castles of La Mothe Chandeniers and Ebaupinay, Dartagnans
and Adopte un Château are proud to present another castle worthy of a new lease on life :
the Castle of Vibrac!
It is done, ! The Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers now belongs to thousands of Internet users from around the world.
Through this collective purchase, we believe in the preservation and development of the heritage of tomorrow and prove that the civic strength is always the greatest.
Thanks to the thousands of anonymous people!
Let's go on ! On the way to the last landing!
NB: all new participants can also become co-owners!
Here is a sentence launched 30 days ago and for which a great momentum has been built. We did not succeed to make this dream a reality but today, we offer you a wildest dream!
Participate to the purchase of the most romantic castle: La Mothe-Chandeniers in the Vienne department.
And this time without any auction, as an agreement has been reached with the owner.
A concept which is created and co-host by:
* * *
This project is a first in France : Dartagnans and Adopte un château are allowing you to become the multi-owners of a castle !
And as donors, you will be the one deciding of its future!
Inspired by the simultaneously fanciful and tragic story of this castle deeply ingrained in its territory, Dartagnans & Adopte un château are joining forces to offer a great castle’s rescue project. The idea is to create a collective future for this castle and to allow castle lovers to become its guardians.
Purchased under an SAS company (Simplified joint-stock company), each donor will become a share-holder and therefore a co-owner of the castle. We are willing to create a dedicated platform that will allow each owner to follow the progress of the work, the events, the project offers and to build a real collaborative and participatory project.
Transforming an abandoned ruin into a collective work is the best way to protect it in the long-term.
This box is magic ... It contains access to the condominium castle Mothe-Chandeniers.
A single number membership card. And a customizable document if you want to offer it.
You are now in possession of a heritage treasure.
Welcome to Dartagnans Club x Adopt a castle!
To offer it, simply choose the counterpart "La box Ma part du Château" at 60 €. You will receive the box before Christmas. Inside is a single number membership card. This number will be asked in order to take the identity of the future co-owner to whom you have offered it. If you want to take more than one, simply change the amount committed during the payment. For example: 120 € for 2 boxes, etc.
The castle of Mothe-Chandeniers, known worldwide, has been stuck for too many years.
The uncertainty hovering around the future of this non-listed castle, the risk was too great to see the Mothe-Chandeniers bought and then razed by a promoter.
Since 2016, a new citizen movement has been created around La Mothe-Chandeniers.
It is around this project of rescue, anchored in its territory, and immense possibilities of rehabilitation of the place that Adopts a castle and Dartagnans chose to create a collective project.
In the face of urgency and uncertainty, we have no right to remain silent. All together save the castle of Mothe-Chandeniers, to preserve the magic of the place.
Everyone can participate, wherever you come from!
Allowing 10 000 persons to take charge of the destiny of such a monument is not an easy thing!
It is quite difficult to have 10 000 people at the notary…which is why we are offering to establish this project as a company where each donor will be the owner of a share or several shares! The company will then work in a democratic manner, with a management board and an annual general meeting.
To find out more about the operation, the partners' responsibility, the decision-making, etc., we invite you to consult the technical sheet by clicking on the link below:
If the amount of €500 000 is reached, we will then create a company with all the donors that will become owners of the monument.
If the amount is not reach, the donors will be able to choose to get reimbursed.
The stockholder will be constituted of the donors that will pay €1 extra for the creation of the company.
Responsibility : the liability is limited to the contribution, thus little risk, and if one day we are facing a problem (urgent restoration works in particular), the shareholders will eventually be asked for a new participation through an opening of the capital.
The liability of each shareholder is therefore limited and proportional to the amount invested. For example, if we target 10,000 shareholders: each shareholder will hold 1 or more shares of €1 on an aggregate of 10,000 shares. Thus each shareholder will hold 0.01% of the company and its liability will be limited to these 0.01%.
To find out more about the operation, the partners' responsibility, the decision-making, etc., we invite you to consult the technical sheet by clicking on the link below:
Dartagnans is a digital agency that works for the promotion and preservation of the culture, cultural heritage and tourism.
We have developed our activities around our crowdfunding platform and our consulting & marketing agency in order to find new ways to promote and preserve our cultural heritage.
Adopte un château is an independent association under the law 1901 that aimed at saving endangered castles and find original ways to bring back to life monuments.
Our idea is that an endangered monument is a monument that has to have a collective fate. But also a local destiny, with a positive impact on the territory.
The buying price of the castle is 500 000 euros, but needless to say that the restoration works required are important! It will be spread over several years, and will enable for good the saving of this emblematic castle! Adopte un château will work closely with its architects and with the State’s services to build this restoration project.
But beyond the works, it is also a reuse project that needs to be built, which is one of Adopte un château skills, but we also wish to make this construction a collective one…AND to allow the owners to choose in a democratic manner the purpose of this project!
If the 500 000 € are the minimum to reach in order to be able to acquire the castle of the Mothe-Chandeniers, we of course fixed ourselves more important objectives in order to be able very quickly to start the first work of security. Also, we are set ourselves 4 levels of landing to reach.
Palier n°1 : 500 000€.
500 000 € for the purchase of the castle, the outbuilding and part of the land.
Palier n°2 : 650 000€.
That is € 150,000 more than tier 1 cut in the following way:
30 000 € for the clearing and the architectural study of security of the castle
20 000 € for the box "My part of the castle"
36 600 € for the costs related to the purchase (Notaries, registration fees, etc.)
33,400 € for fundraising costs €
30,000 for the legal assembly, the drafting of the statutes of the SAS and the entry of thousands of shareholders
Palier n°3 : 750 000€.
That is € 100,000 more than level 2, cut in the following way: 100,000 € for the first security work
Palier n°4 : 1 000 000€.
That is 250 000€ more than level 3, cut in the following way:
€250,000 for security work
This first fundraising is fundamental to launch quickly and in a sustainable way this big project of collective purchase
If we exceed 1 million euros
The funds will be used for security and restoration work.
We estimate that the overall work budget is around 3 million euros.
We have written a technical note about the project that we imagine at
the Chateau de la Mothe-Chandeniers, presenting the major axes of security, development and business plan to 5 years.
This form can be accessed by clicking below:
The castle of the Mothe-Chandeniers, which origins trace back to the 13th century, and probably even before, is the symbol of Romantism and is an inspired and inspiring place.
From 1650, when François de Rochechouart exiles there after the Fronde, the castle becomes a place where a real court will gather. In 1668, he has to abandon the Moth to its creditor. In 1776, it is René Charles de Maupeou, Vice Chancellor and Attorney General of France, who will retrieve the Mothe Chandenier. The marquisate is confirmed under the name of Maupeou by land patent of July 1767.
Probably plundered and left abandoned during the revolutionary period, it is not until François Hennecart, rich Parisian entrepreneur, who purchases it in 1809 and has it restored as well as its surroundings : canals are dig, alleys are traced, a vineyard planted, that the castle aspect draws closer to today’s one.
Hennecart, however conserves a big part of the medieval part. In 1857, the baron Edgard Lejeune, horseman of the Emperor Napoléon III, undertakes around 1870 a massive reconstruction in the Romantic taste. This reconstruction transforms the castle as the English architect in charge of the works finds inspiration in the Loire castles.
On Sunday, March 13th 1932, while the baron Robert Lejeune has just installed central heating, a violent fire breaks out. The firefighters, which came from all over the region, can’t avoid the disaster. An article from the French Newspaper The Figaro grieves, at the time, to see the wealth destroyed: « a library containing very rare books, tapestries from the Gobelins, ancient furniture and paintings of great value. »
In 1963, a retired manufacturer Jules Cavroy, purchases the domain to the baron Lejeune widow to transform into a pilot farm.
Thereafter purchased in lot, it will end up abandoned for years and the nature will take over again each part.
In red, the cadastral parts forming part of the sale
We believe in the collective power and we want YOU, the future owners, to decide collectively and democratically of the Castle’s future.
Artists’ residence? Innovative and popular cultural place?
We are willing for the castle to become a symbol of collective and creative expression, and of course oriented toward the preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage.
The castle is considered in the collective imagination as the romantic ruin par excellence. It is thus important that the reuse project be linked to this notion of magical, attractive and enchanting place that makes it today a symbol for many castle lovers.
Our project offer pursues two main lines of actions:
1. Arrange the outhouse to create a welcoming and lively space. It is important for the project to have a base camp to be able to develop the activity, a part of the outhouse that will be purchased will allow the development of reception, work and visitors areas.
2. Secure the castle to allow access to the public and to the events:
After the 1933 fire, nearly all roofs have disappeared; only two tours have kept a part of their framework and roof. The priority will be the topping out of these two tours. It will also be necessary to verify and stabilize the high walls.
In a second phase, we will ask for a securing study to an architect specialized in heritage conservation. Even if the castle is not listed Monument Historique, we think that it has to be treated as a protected monument and that a larger reflection on endangered monuments should be carried out at La Mothe-Chandeniers around the subject of how to restore a 21st century ruin.
How to conceive a smart topping out and airtightness while waiting for a more complete restoration or elaboration of a participative project?
How to ensure access to the site to start its “exploitation” and also to allow the preparation of the museography and to study the monument, which holds numerous secrets and treasures?
How to think the layout of the immediate vicinity and of the reintegration of the castle in its environment?
Many questions to which we will answer collaboratively with the owners,
La Mothe-Chandeniers shall be more than a castle; it has to become a symbol of our capacity to think our cultural heritage differently.
As in any company, the annual fees and expenses will be borne by it. Also, there will be no obligation for shareholders to contribute to operating costs and work.
It is in this logic that we want to build a viable and sustainable economic project to generate revenue.
We see the castle as a product and not as a burden.
Our objectives will be to create a real economic activity rooted in its territory. Several proposals for development axes:
1) The castle: at first it is self-sufficient and it is the key element of our project. We want to secure the ruin very quickly so we can open it for the visit. Our goal is to reach 50,000 visitors by 2021 and 70,000 by 2022.
2) Events: the dream setting of the Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers lends itself perfectly to the organization of events such as sound and light, historical re-enactments or exhibitions.
3) Rental for filming: many production companies (cinema and TV) have already contacted us to rent the castle.
4) Ecology and sustainable development: the castle is located on a rich territory. We want its activity to be part of a local approach related to projects, actors already present or in the making. The castle is also a link between stone and nature, we want to keep this link in our approach.
We will launch from the beginning of the year 2018 a collaborative internet platform in which each shareholder can give his ideas and offer his services. The aim being to identify all the talents and good ideas.
This platform will also make it possible to vote on questions raised by the executive committee for the major orientations to be given to the project for the year in course: budget, security, opening to the public, creation of events, etc.
Finally this collaborative platform will be the legal support for all Ordinary and Extraordinary General Meetings of Shareholders. Each legal document will be available online and each shareholder will be invited to vote for or against a resolution.
Building a project also requires partners that will guarantee the longevity of our action. The project being launched in a very short period, we are launching just now our search of institutional partners.
Dartagnans is a digital agency that works for the promotion and preservation of the culture, cultural heritage and tourism.
Adopte un château is an association that aimed at saving endangered castles and to find original ways to bring back to life monuments.
- By donating online on this page after subscribing and connecting to www.dartagnans.fr
- Through a bankwire on this page after subscribing and connecting to www.dartagnans.fr
- By sending a check (to the order of Adopte un château), with your email address at the following address:
Dartagnans
Campaign Château de la Mothe Chandeniers
14 rue Crespin du Gast
75011 Paris, France
