Château de Javarzay was reconstructed in 1514 by members of the House of Rochechouart. There was originally a medieval castle which had an enceinte flanked by 12 towers, of which only two remain.
The property has had a number of owners; the Rochefoucauld-Roye family bought it from François de Rochechouart of Chandeniers in 1655; Jérôme Phélypeaux, Count of Pontchartrain and minister of Louis XIV; Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, lawyer of Louis XVI. Jérôme Phélypeaux, Secretary of State for the Navy, son of the Chancellor of France Louis, bought the estate of Javarzay in 1712 for the sum of 100,000 livres, but there was a family connection: his wife was Eléonore-Christine de La Rochefoucauld, daughter of Frédéric-Charles, Count of Roucy and Roye. In 1785, at least, the owner was Joseph Michel Le Blois, advocate at the military tribunals during the French Revolution. His daughter, Marie-Anne (born in the château in 1787) married Ange Achille de Brunet, Count of Neuilly.
What remains of the château, the most imposing of the period in Deux-Sèvres, is the building which joins the two towers and the chapel. The left wing has been destroyed and the right wing is a later construction. The enceinte was demolished between 1820 and 1824 and the sculptures have disappeared. The orangery dates from 1854.
The Château de Javarzay combines both Renaissance and feudal aspects with its machicolations and its moat as well as conical roofs covered with slate. Its entrance pavilion is flanked by four corbelled turrets.
References:The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the City Library also being located nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. The Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická 6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic.
Its history dates from the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the medieval period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.