Freistroff castle, which was scheduled as an ancient
monument in 1991, was originally built in the Middle Ages but owes most of its
present features to subsequent alterations in the 16th and 17th centuries.ARCHITECTURE
Freistroff castle, which was scheduled as an ancient
monument in 1991, was originally built in the Middle Ages but owes most of its
present features to subsequent alterations in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The castle was built for the most part out of local red sandstone although a jasper-looking stone was used here and there. This stone, which is typical of the Lunéville area, lends itself to sculpture but is easily eaten away by wind and rain because of the gypsum it contains.
The original slates on the high-pitched roofs were later partly superseded by interlocking tiles.
The castle with its peculiar oval shape consisted in fact of six buildings arranged around a rectangular courtyard.
A small building was added to the outer north-west part of the castle in the 19th century.
Among the remains of the original 14th-century castle are
the almost two-metre wide curtains, which partly support the south and north
buildings, as well as two arches and a groove of the drawbridge portcullis
recalling a medieval passageway.
The older castle was destroyed before 1536 and replaced with a new building the architecture of which must have been very close to the present castle. Work on this castle first took place between 1536 and 1546. The whole of the building was built at that time and was later fitted with four inner staircase towers. Of particular interest are the traces of former corbels (eight of them being still visible) which used to support the struts of the overlapping roof protecting the balcony.
The most beautiful parts of the façades that look out on the courtyard are the three towers to the north-west, south and south-east corners of the building where all the extant decoration is to be found – a staircase was built to replace the former north-east tower in the 18th century.
Two of these hexagonal towers are crowned with spires (north-west and south towers), the south-east tower being topped by an imperial roof. Among the features of one of the towers are the ‘raking’ windows, i.e. sloping windows that follow the angle of the inner spiral stairs. This very rare feature is peculiar to Freistroff and Blois castles.
The towers have retained their original inner corkscrew
stairs with their helical newels made of roll mouldings. Although their general
appearance is the same , they all differ from one another as regards to details :
the unusual staggering of the tori half-way up the south-east newel bears
witness to the stone-cutter’s mastery, whereas the annulet carved into the
hollow part of the tori makes the motion of the south stairs even more
perceptible.
The oak framework dates back from the 16th and the 18th century.