Château de Pupetières

Between 1861 and 1866, Alphonse de Virieu, son of Aymon, decided to entrust the reconstruction of Pupetières to two architects: Denis Darcy, for the outbuildings, and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, for the castle in a neo-Gothic style.

[2] Pupetières Castle is located in the northern part of the French department of Isère, on the territory of the commune of Chabons, in the Canton of Le Grand-Lemps.

Dominating the valley of the Bourbre, but slightly below the "Vallon de Lamartine" and the "Combe Férouillat", which separates it from the former chartreuse de la Sylve-Bénite [fr], the building stands less than 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the small town of Virieu, which is home to another listed castle in Chabons, also a listed castle in Virieu, as well as 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Voiron, the most important town in its geographical area (calculated distances as the crow flies).

She decided to buy back her land from the Grand-Lemps, Montrevel and Pupetières, and it was her grandson Alphonse who entrusted the reconstruction of the castle to Eugène Viollet-le-Duc a few years later (around 1861).

It was so steep that it always took several horses to hoist a carriage to the front of the castle.In the Mercure de France, the reader can discover another description of the castle, signed by Paul Berret and published on 1 August 1933:[11] Pupetières was completed in 1862 by Viollet-le-Duc; today it erects its medieval towers at the mouth of the valley which it hides from the eyes of those passing by; its architecture is too new with its pink and white stones and its slender towers...The elements protected as historical monuments are the facades and roofs of the castle and the outbuildings, and the following rooms with their decoration: vestibule, staircase with its wrought-iron banister, dining room, large lounge with its fireplace, library including book cupboards on two floors, the ceremonial room known as the Duchess of Noailles' bedroom with its fireplace and the bedroom of Queen Esther.

The seven towers, topped in turrets, and the main building are covered with glazed scaly tiles that highlight the multiple offsets of the roofs of the castle.

The painted woods of the large living room, where a monumental fireplace is enthroned, whose mantle sculpture represents a scene recalling that the Virieu family offered land so that the Chartreux could build their abbey of the Sylve Bénite (Le Pin).

[15] During the 2017 edition of the Festival Berlioz [fr], organised in La Côte-Saint-André in honour of the French composer, "decentralised" concerts and readings in the salons and gardens were held on the estate and in the château.