The owner
Pierre-Apolinaire d'Oilliamson
Being a chatelaine has now become a profession in its own right.
The term "heritage curator", which refers to a specific body of civil servants working in the Regional Directorates of Cultural Affairs (DRAC), would be even more aptly applied to people who commit their family life, their time, their skills and their personal financial resources to preserving such monuments, in which France takes legitimate cultural and tourist pride.
The Fontaine-Henry castle has never been sold in its history, since the year 1200, perhaps even earlier. This means that some of our visitors, particularly the North Americans, look at me as a historical monument. Soon, I will probably become an "endangered masterpiece" myself. No one is stainless.
"That I do not see myself as an owner, but as a witness, and a transmitter."
Witness :
Every year I have the opportunity to share, directly or indirectly, the beauties for which I am responsible and accountable, with thousands of visitors, curious, admiring, astonished, interested... Not forgetting our guides and trainees, with whom this sharing is daily. They are young people, passionate about heritage, history, art and beauty. Their origins are as diverse as our society is. They spend active, studious and often joyful holidays here. Even when they have to deal with the inevitable grumpy people... but yes, even in Fontaine-Henry, there are some !
Transmitter:
I am happy to have made this choice, because it allows me, like the bow of a boat, to permanently ensure the link between past and future. So I live well in the present... Paradoxical and yet true. So, whether this present is easy or difficult, luxurious or uncomfortable, it doesn't matter, as long as you have set the bar high enough to experience at every moment this irreplaceable feeling of the legitimacy of what you are doing. I hope to leave my successors a healthy monument. This is only possible with healthy finances, and there you really need to have faith.
This website is a way to expand our sharing.
Welcome to you !
By visiting this site, you are already visiting a part of Fontaine-Henry castle. But we are only talking about the castle here, and we should not forget the village that unites the two ancient seigneuries of Fontaine-Henry and Moulineaux: a real "little village full of friends... made in Normandy" as in the song by Stone and Charden... remember ?
Come quickly, we are waiting for you, you will be received as a friend !