A first motte-and-bailey castle was besieged by Louis IV of France in 951. The Counts of Brienne are mentioned from 950 until 1356. A castle chapel, dedicated to the Holy Cross, is mentioned in 1166.
Abbot Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne became bishop, then archbishop, cardinal, and in 1787, a minister of state under King Louis XVI. His brother, Louis Marie Athanase de Loménie de Brienne, served as Secretary of War in 1787 and 1788 under the same king. This position prompted them to renovate their Brienne estate.
Both commissioned the reconstruction of the Château de Brienne, which began in 1770 and was completed in 1778, with the landscaping continuing for several years to create the exceptional view still admired today.
At the end of January and early February 1814, the area around Brienne was the scene of the Battle of La Rothière, during which Napoleon I directed operations from the Château de Brienne, where he spent two nights. According to Cassaigne, Napoleon nearly surprised the Prussian general Blücher at the castle through underground tunnels. In the ensuing assault, all the windows of the building were shattered.
After being sold and left uninhabited, the castle endured occupation during World War II, followed by abandonment until the early 1950s. The Brienne estate was converted in 1959 into a psychiatric hospital, now known as the Aube Public Mental Health Facility (EPSMA).
The site is not accessible to the visit excepting during the summer visits that could be origanized.
Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.