The Château de Condé-Sainte-Libiaire was built at the end of the 12th century in the form of a small fortified castle and is located between Meaux and Lagny.
Condé is an old village which depended on the Province of Champagne and Brie.
During the 12th-13th centuries, the village Condé was predominantly winegrowers, and was home to 29 vineyards.
From the 13th- 15th century, the village was under the lordship of Benedictines de Saint Pierre de Lagny. After the Renaissance, the Abbey de Lagny was forced to sell his possessions having exhausted the monastery’s resources, not long afterward the castle was burnt down then rebuilt in the 17th century.
Under Louis XIII, the ancient castle and battlements gave way to the current manor-house.
When forts, motes and lordships had run their course, the outbuildings of the castle were replaced with a Cashmere factory winning awards at the 1823,1824,1834 exhibitions.
In 1842 Mrs. Casimir PERRIER,( widow of the former Minister Louis Philippe) built and donated a house for the creation of a girls school with the sole condition that the education was given by a nun. In 1850 the Mother Superior, began to keep a supply of medicines on hand to help give aid to the less fortunate.
In 1880, the Sisters of the Province of Evreux were permitted to add a boarding school program. In 1896, the boarding school was sold to Lady Chivaust (also known as Sister Julie). The boarding school, under the designation “house of protection”, was to be used as an orphanage/boarding school for young girls. Finally, in 1910, as a result of construction on a new mixed school, the old buildings were then returned to the original donor.
In 1971, the castle and the park were refurbished going against strong advice that it should be demolished.
Several other bourgeois owners succeeded each other until the acquisition by the electrical company Electricité de France (EDF) in 1980
The municipalities of Condé and Montry have classified the castle as a national treasure due to historical value and beautiful walks towards the rivers la Marne, la Grand Morin, and la Chalifert Canal.
Today ( since october 2019) the castle is owned by Arribas, a company of glass blowers and artisans. The manor has an amazing historic aesthetic and continues to be a great tourist attraction in Ile de France due to its close proximity to Disneyland Paris. With your help we can realize our goal to bring the estate back to it’s former glory.
The castle terrace offers a breathtaking view of it’s grounds, and facilitates a leisurely walk through the parks and a peek in our gazebos that will be home to the crafts of craftsmen of Arribas
Unfortunately, our lovely terrace and courtyard has indentations and holes here and there. Self-locking paving stones were placed on a bed of sand, and with the periods of drought over recent years, ground movement destabilized the structure. Despite work done last November to add sand, within 15 days the pavement started to sag again.
While these small problems can be expected of a property with such history, it also poses a significant danger for public access.
Due to this, it is our priority to repair the safety issues so we can open our doors this summer period starting June 2020.
Minimum objective: € 7,500 which will allow us to finance part of the terrace.
Completely redoing the terrace requires several steps:
Step 1: the foundations
-Remove the existing paving
- Cordon of the perimeter.
- remove 40cm of ground from the entire surface.
- insure there is a slope of 1% - 2% towards the exterior to facilitate drainage of ground water.
Step 2: the underlay
- deposit an underlay made from a mixture of sand and gravel, compressing it until we have a layer of 10cm
Step 3: protection
- Lay a geotextile over the entire surface ; (this is for 2 reasons) it retains the embankment, and prevents foliage from growing through to the surface which will improve the stability.
Step 4: the laying bed
- Sand is spread over the entire surface about 7-8 cm thick.
- sand must be smoothed while respecting the slope.
- pack the sand and lay planks so as not to step on it when laying the new paving stones.
Step 5: laying the paver
-The bricks must be laid at an angle.
- slotted together then tapped with a mallet to press them into the sand.
- The level must be checked regularly.
Step 6: the cuts
- all cuts are reserved for the end of the work. using a paver cutter (recommended) or a diamond disc grinder to cut the paver then finish with a chisel and hammer.
Step 7: the finishes
- Fill the joints with sand and sweep in all directions.
- Pass a weighted roller with Teflon finish to avoid scratching the surface of the pavers.
- Top up the joints.
- And finally shower the joints with fine spray of water.
The company was created by the Arribas brothers in the city of Coruña Spain.
They have been glassmakers for generations; you could say Glass work is part of their DNA.
In the 1960s Brothers Alphonse and Thomas learned the techniques and secrets of glass blowing.
In 1964, they were appointed by the Spanish government, looking for young artists, to showcase their art and represent their country at the Universal Exhibition in New York.
It was on this occasion that the meeting between the Arribas brothers and Walt Disney took place. Following this meeting, they decided to form a partnership and open a boutique and studio in Disneyland California in 1967.
The Arribas manufactory has been Disney's main partner since the 1970s. The Arribas family has continued to broaden its expertise in glass in order to offer increasingly spectacular demonstrations.
At the same time, the Arribas brothers have developed their collaboration with Disney in order to be presented internationally and can now be found in almost every Disney location( France, America, Tokyo and in Shanghai)
Arribas has worked in partnership with Disney for 25 years now, and in 2018, our hope to highlight our French artisanal manufacturing led us to invest in French heritage.
Once the restoration work has been completed and we have opened our doors, there will be workshops of glass blowing at a flame, glass engravers on the wheel, sandblasters, stained glass and fusing.
Visitors will be able to visit the castle, and also attend demonstrations and participate in the production of their personal creations such as jewelry, roses for Valentine's Day, blown glass Christmas ornaments.
Today, the factory employs master craftsmen from all over the world to offer diversity in their art. Come and admire our new generation of Arribas glassblowers and practice this rare and demanding profession.
We need your help to get Château de Condé-Sainte-Libiaire up to snuff, and here’s how you do it
• - by making an online donation by credit card on this page after registering on the Dartagnans site
• - by making a bank transfer after registration on the Dartagnans site
The purchase of the Château de Condé-Sainte-Libiaire by Arribas France was published in Le Parisien and La Marne.
The whole team of 'La Manufacture Arribas' thanks you.
Your support is essential, thank you in advance to all donors! :)
We are waiting for you at the Château de Condé Sainte Libiaire to meet our artists!
E-mail de contact : gregory.viseux @arribas.com
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