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Malijai (04)
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MALIJAI
: Napoleon
stopped here & endash; why don't you ?
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Villafranca di Malligaccio,
best translated by Mauvais Gué (Bad Ford) in Provençal,
is the oldest known name of Malijai. In 1265, a charter
was drafted at the Malligaccio hospice. In 1340 onwards,
the Black Death, wars, looting and famines followed one
another right up to the XVIth century. The first mention
of a château at Malijai is found in the act of gift of
1381, made by Queen Jeanne, Countess of Provence to Guidon
Flotte de Nice, Lord of Courbons. The château was made
over to him along with the men, the mills and the waterways.
This first château was probably destroyed when the Saracens
invaded. It is still recorded on the Cassini map (XVIIIth
century) and it is even on the current land register.
A section of circular wall, buried by undergrowth, is
the last remnant of it. Melchior de Mazargues, who was
a Councillor at the Parliament of Aix en Provence, built
the present château. He had been authorised by the Cour
des Comptes in 1635 to build a château or manor house
wherever he pleased.
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It was he who requested the
inhabitants of Malijai and those who wished to go there
to settle down to authorise him to build houses (register
of acknowledgments of 1635 to 1665 &endash; Departmental
Archives), "which encouraged them to work and taught them
to work in stone and in the vineyards, and encouraged them
to greater devotion". Besides the château, he had the church
built around 1640 (it was reconstructed around 1840 so that
the new road could be built). A house near the château bears
the date of 16X1. Another house, standing before the bridge
a with a Gothic porch, is also very old. The château was
acquired in 1766 by Pierre Vincent Noguier, who ruined himself
restoring it. His son Pierre bought it back in 1785. His
grandson Adrien gave Napoleon I hospitality on the night
of 4 to 5 March 1815. Madame de Parseval sold the château
in 1924 to the firm Alais Forges et Carmargues, which has
become Pechiney. In 1980, Pechiney sold the ground floor
and the jardins à la française. to the Malijai Town Hall.
The château has some magnificent and extremely rare gypseries
done at the time the Louis XV style was giving way to the
Louis XVI style. They are extremely varied and consist of
ceiling decoration, pieces over doors and pieces over the
fireplaces.
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