Vianney d'Alançon is not one of those castles afraid of.
At Christmas 2019, he acquired the castle of La Barben, in Provence, the region where he comes from on his father's side.
Today, he opens this huge 5000 m2 complex surrounded by 400 hectares of land, perched on its rock for a thousand years, and provided with a garden designed by Le Nôtre.
Despite the delays linked to the pandemic.
Despite the weight of the restoration.
In 2016, already, he had bought the fortress of Saint-Vidal, in Haute-Loire, a former family possession, on his mother's side, this time.
He renovated it, and with the help of 300 volunteers put on shows that can be seen from July 1.
Read also:
Heritage: Rocher Mistral is preparing to open its doors
The passion for heritage combined with the taste for entrepreneurial adventure made it possible to carry out the restoration of La Barben with great speed: “
The urgency was there.
The building couldn't wait.
Water entered through the roofs;
threatening the frescoes, in particular those painted by Granet and dedicated to Pauline Borghèse
”, details Vianney d'Alançon, who has three private partners (Vincent Montagne, president of the National Publishing Union, Benoît Habert, administrator of Le Figaro and the Deniau family ).
The region, which was involved from the start, and the department also support the project.
Originally, castles were places of defense, then places of pleasure.
Today, they are places of hope.
Vianney d'Alançon
The 35-year-old renamed the ensemble “Rocher Mistral”, in homage to the wind which gives its breath to the Provençal identity and to the writer of the same name, who made this region known throughout the world. He expects 150,000 visitors there this year, believes in it firmly and does not lead the project to the economy: “
Originally, castles were places of defense, then places of pleasure. Today, they are places of hope: in our fractured society, it is difficult to create links between people. Heritage has a lot to tell us about it: it has a very strong history, of which we are all proud
.
An association of 650 volunteers was formed around the Rocher Mistral, which created 200 direct and 200 indirect jobs
”.
The visit will last half a day, a little longer if you decide to take advantage of the two night shows.
To read also:
The administrative setbacks of the Rocher Mistral, ambitious Provençal “Puy-du-Fou”
Vianney d'Alançon wrote the texts himself. Seven shows that tell the story of La Barben and Provence: from the monks of Saint-Victor de Marseille established here in the year 1000, to the Forbin family, installed on the site from 1474 to 1963, who allowed the rallying of the county of Provence to France under Louis XI, and one of the last descendants was the lover of Pauline Borghese. Another Puy du Fou? “
No,”
says Vianney d'Alançon, “
at the same time as a cultural project, we are defending a project linked to the environment
.
We are in a peri-urban area with a population basin of 150,000 inhabitants a few minutes away. Several hectares of the estate had become a dumping ground.
"
Program around bats, carried out with the Groupe chiroptères de Provence, around the protection of birds, installation of 200 hives, a herd of Arles merinos and another of Rove goats, back to the agriculture so that the restaurants and markets installed on the estate are supplied by its own crops. “
We are also going to plant pistachio and almond trees. 95% of the almonds used for calissons come from Spain, although we can grow them here,
”says Vianney d'Alançon.