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.
Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.