GRANDPRÉ. TEMPORARY BRIDGE ACROSS THE AIRE
According to Goethe, the castle was at that time the abode of pestilence and death; the neighbourhood of the village, thickly strewn with corpses and graves, was one gigantic cemetery.
During the war of 1914-1918 the German camps and military works at Grandpré were frequently bombed by the Allied airmen. Only at the end of September, 1918, did the Franco-American troops recapture the village after a long and severe struggle.
On a terrace, in grounds to the north of the village, stands a château in the style of Louis XIII., which is but the main entrance of an old and larger castle belonging to the Dukes of Joyeuse. This castle, in which Charles VI. lodged when on his way to the Ardennes, was rebuilt by Louis de Joyeuse, assisted by the generosity of Louis XI. Joubert, Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy, was married to Mlle. de Montholon Senonville in this castle on the 7th Messidor of the year VII. (June 26, 1799). The castle was destroyed by fire in 1834.