Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes1/16The Château is an 18th-century estate originally designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, the Parisian architect behind Versailles’s Petit Trianon and the Place de la Concorde.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes2/16Spring slowly returns to the Château.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes3/16Inside the front doors at the Château.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes4/16Signatures found in plaster dating from 1893.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes5/16A skylight at the top of the stairs.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes6/16“Propped up with scaffolding, this salon was just safe to enter when we first visited the Château,” writes Karina. “It required two new beams, though, as both of the original beams were rotten. Moss and weeds were removed along with the strong smell of mold.”
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes7/16Restoration is under way in the ancienne salle à manger.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes8/16Some of the materials used in the ancienne salle à manger to begin to remedy years of wear and neglect.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes9/16The striking fireplace in the ancienne salle à manger after months of restoration work.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes10/16Peeling wallpaper in the Château’s many rooms hints at the many layers beneath.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes11/16Some of the beautiful floral painting discovered during the restoration process.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes12/16Inside the Salon de Rose, “the pink salon,” named for its light pink paneling.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes13/16The fireplace, complete with heart-shaped medallions on either corner, in the Salon de Rose.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes14/16“One day, the plywood crumbled and fell from the Salon de Rose walls,” writes Karina. “It revealed blue, gray, and white brushstrokes, hidden away for centuries. Excited and delighted, the gorgeous Frantz—an art restorer from Paris—and I picked away the rotten timber, tearing it down.”
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes15/16Beneath a layer of pink plywood was a magnificent fresco, about two meters high.
Photo: Courtesy of Château de Gudanes16/16What looked like a fountain would have actually been used to keep cool drinks—“I’m thinking champagne!” Karina muses—and ice cream chilled on hot Pyrenean summer days.
