The Château de Condé is a private estate in Condé-en-Brie, Aisne, France, set in a park on the Champagne route 100 km from Paris. The Château de Condé is a private estate, listed as a historic monument and inhabited year round. Its 17th and 18th century interiors were created by artists (Watteau, Boucher, Oudry, Servandoni and others) at the behest of the Princes of Savoy and then the Marquis de la Faye. This château evokes part of France's history, through illustrious characters like the Condés, the Savoies, Jean de La Fontaine, Cardinal Richelieu, Mazarin, not forgetting Olympe and her suspect "powders". Highlights include the "Watteau" wing and its recently discovered frescoes, Richelieu's bed chamber, the magnificent "trompe-l'œil" effects of Servandoni, the "little private apartments" and the outstanding drawing room decorated by Oudry. History The village of Condé-en-Brie has been inhabited since the time of pre-Roman civilisation. In 500 BC., the Senones fought nearby a battle against the Condrusi. Traces of this presence have been found in the village and in the Château itself, which was probably a Gallo-Roman land estate. As a matter of fact, an ancient pavement of Roman times exist under the present pavement of the Château. The village derives its name from the confluence of two rivers, the Surmelin and the Dhuys, which merge before feeding the river Marne: Condé derives from the Celtic word condatum, meaning "confluent". The castle's history during the Middle Ages was closely linked to the Coucy family. The first lord of Condé was Jean de Montmirail, whose son-in-law was Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy. It was he who constructed, at the end of the 12th century, a "keep", part of which is still to be seen, and which had 2 meters thick walls and towering chimneys. The last heir of the House of Coucy, Marie I de Coucy, Countess of Soissons, moved into the Château with her husband, Henry of Bar, in the 15th century. Condé was passed down through marriage to the House of Luxembourg, and in 1487, Marie of Luxembourg married Francis de Bourbon, Count of Vendôme. Due to this marriage, the family came into contact with the royal family. Their grandson, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, was the father of King Henry IV of France, and his brother, Louis de Bourbon, was the first Prince of Condé, who frequently came to the Château de Condé to hunt, as