On June 10, 2024, La Poste issues a stamp on La Roche-Guyon located in Val d’Oise as part of the tourist series.
Proudly camped on a wooded cliff, in the heart of the Vexin regional park, the thousand-year-old dungeon of La Roche-Guyon surveys the Seine valley. In the Middle Ages, it was a defensive work of prime importance, on the border of the Kingdom of France and the Duchy of Normandy. It takes the name “the rock of Gui”, in honor of its first lords. Built on the hillside, the castle is connected to the keep by an underground staircase. Embellished during the Renaissance, it welcomed François I and then Henri IV on several occasions. The hunts there are famous, but it is, it is said, the beauty of the Marquise de Guercheville, Countess of La Roche-Guyon, which attracts the Vert-Galant. In the 18th century, the castle was again renovated and enlarged. Louise-Élisabeth de La Rochefoucauld, Duchess of Enville, enhanced her splendid residence with a small theater and a library. The manuscript of his ancestor's famous Maxims was kept there. Part of the estate is laid out as an English-style park. In the undergrowth where nature has reclaimed its rights, today's walker can still distinguish the ideal forms of this landscape magnified by man.
Nestled between the castle gardens and the bend of the Seine, the village of La Roche-Guyon was embellished by the Dukes of La Rochefoucauld. Its picturesque streets, its stone fountain, its church and its columned market hall have earned it the label of “The Most Beautiful Villages of France”. Dug into the cliff from the 4th century, the primitive troglodyte dwellings or “boves” recall its ancient origins. Located in Impressionist land, between Giverny and Vétheuil, the site of La Roche-Guyon was painted by Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet. It inspired Lamartine to write one of his first poetic meditations.
