Château Saint Georges in Grasse, a historic and symbolic place

We dive into history with the smells of older times where we dream of fairy tales with princes and princesses. A journey to another time filled with flavors in a magical and  place. Nicknamed "The Little Versailles of the Côte d'Azur", it revives the era of royal courts. I invite you to discover the secrets of this charming castle in the interview with the owner, Madame Anca Bartha.

"The history of the Château dates back to the 19th century when the Grasse perfumer, Léon Chiris, decided to settle on the heights of Grasse and make his family home.
If we look a little in the history of the city, in the coat of arms of the city there is a sheep. This is because in the 16th century the town was known for tanneries, when the skins of sheep were used to make muffs, gloves and other products."

The perfume extraction process

"People realized that by using the fat of the sheep, when they put the flowers that naturally grew in the surroundings, they let them for three to four weeks, and then the fat absorbed the smell of the flowers. Afterwards, through a process of heating, one could extract the absolute from the flower. A rather laborious process, which required a lot of time, a lot of manpower."

But let's find out who changed this ...

Who is Leon Chiris?
Léon Chiris is an emblematic figure of the city of Grasse through his contribution to the territory and the perfume industry.

"The genius of Léon Chiris was that he arrived during the industrial revolution and he took the still from England, the steam engine and he adapted it for the extraction of perfume and the extracting the scent from the flowers. Instead of several weeks, the extraction process was reduced to an hour. The flowers were picked in the morning, put them in the still, and after an hour, the essence of the perfume was ready. He realized that all the exotic flowers that we couldn't grow in Grasse, could be picked and extracted elsewhere. He bought land in Mozambique, in Russia, in South America, in Africa, and he had the perfume plants cultivated in these places, extracted the perfume on the spot and sent it to Grasse to make the famous perfumes and the mixture of perfumes that he needed. The reason why he had become the perfume industrialist. He had the monopoly of the global perfume industry at that time. He was, also, mayor of the city of Grasse and Senator of the Alpes Maritimes.

In 1870, he decided to settle on the heights of Grasse. The district was already known for its therapeutic virtues. It was said, at the time, that Magnanosc had the best air in all of Europe. The English people gladly came to spend the winters on the Côte d'Azur and in particular on the heights because they did not like the sun too much, then.
He built his residences in the 1870s. He is very good friend with Alice de Rothschild who, at the time, detained half of the land in Grasse. Alice Rothschild was a confidante of Queen Victoria of England. She invited the Queen to come and spend the winter in Grasse and that's how in 1891, the Queen decided to spend a month in Grasse.

Léon Chiris invited her to visit his factories in the center of Grasse. He created perfumes for the Queen, for the princesses, Béatrice and Eugénie. He also invited her to visit his family homes, the Villa Saint Georges at the time and the Queen falls in love with the panorama of Grasse seen from the gardens of Saint Georges. The newspapers of the time, English and French, testify to Her Majesty's visit to Saint Georges with some sketches with the Queen's walk on the alley that was baptized the Allee de la Reine, with the Castle in the background.

How did you enter this world, this historic place built by Leon Chiris?

Chiris continued their saga from father to son until after the Second World War when they were somewhat obliged to sell their factories and the family home. In the 1950s, it was a Monegasque family who bought it but they weren't too interested in living here. The estate was left abandoned for decades. In the 90s, with my husband, we were looking for a historic place to renovate, because we like old stone and that's how we came across the Château. Well hidden at the time because nature had taken over, during the years. We had to make a small path inside the estate to be able to access the castle, the abandoned castle, unfortunately. It was raining inside.
It is, in fact, a life project. The renovations lasted 5-6 years to restore it, not only the building, but also the park."

To bring back its royal life ...
Yes. It was the challenge to find craftsmen capable of doing all that again. We were lucky to be able to work with a team that participated in the renovation of Versailles with a know-how that only France has. We would like not to lose this know-how and that future generations be proud. To be able to preserve and leave them to future generations.

Today, what does the castle proposes?
The Château offers several things. First of all, a setting to be able to promote the French art of living! The art of living whether it's culinary, as for the Food Influencers Awards event, the art of hospitality, the art of gardens, bringing artisans back to life for niche fairs. Any sort of event around the French art of living, whether private or corporate event, public event, trade fairs, weddings, retreats. A setting to be able to promote the French art of living, to keep the heritage. It is a symbolic place for Grasse! 

By Andra Oprea