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• September 25, 2009. French Minister of Culture and Communications Frédéric Mitterand officially reopened the Desert de Retz to the public in an inauguration ceremony held at the garden on September 24, 2009, before over a thousand guests. Mitterrand, whose uncle, the late president François Mitterand had visited the Desert de Retz and encouraged its preservation, delivered the dedicatory speech, following remarks by author Julien Cendres, Chambourcy Mayor Pierre Morange and Alain Schmitz, President of the Conseil General des Yvelines.

  Cendres is a native of Chambourcy and co-author with Chloé Ridiguet of Le Desert de Retz, paysage choisi. Morange is the Mayor of Chambourcy and a Deputy in the French National Assembly. During the ceremony, he was awarded the coveted “Marianne d’Or” for 2009, granted each year to recognize a mayor’s efforts to promote economic development, cultural activities and municipal services.

  Other well-known personalities who attended the ceremonies included fashion designers Chantal Thomass and Sonia Rikiel and novelist and publisher Régine Déforges. At the close of the event, guests enjoyed a champagne buffet hosted by the Golf de Retz.

  Le désert de Retz retrouve son public.

• September 19, 2009. According to sources, between 800 and 900 persons--including 589 paying adult visitors--discovered the Desert de Retz in the context of the the 26th annual European Heritage Days.

  Throughout Europe, during the European Heritage Days, sites and monuments, some normally closed, are opened to the public. It is estimated that more than 30,000 sites and monuments throughout Europe, including more than 15,000 in France alone, participated in the event and attracted some 20 million visitors.

• September 18, 2009. A second, revised edition of Le Desert de Rtz, paysage choisi by Julien Cendres and Chloé Radiguet was published today. Preface by the late President François Mitterand and postface by Pierre Morange, Mayor of Chambourcy. This book contains a detailed chronology of the Désert de Retz up to the present, along with numerous black-and-white and color illustrations and an extensive bibliography. For purchase details, contact Amazon.fr or FNAC.com.

• June 20, 2009. Dr. Pierre Morange, the Mayor of Chambourcy, was quoted in the June 10, 2009, issue of a local weekly publication Le Courrier des Yvelines, as stating that the Desert de Retz was officially reopened to the public on June 13, 2009.

  According to the article, visits to the Desert de Retz will be scheduled on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month from June to October and will be by appointment only. Call +33(0)1 39 22 31 37 for information and reservations.

  An article by Claire Bommelaer entitled entitled, "Le Désert de Retz sort de son sommeil" was published in the June 16, 2009, issue of the French daily Le Figaro.

• May 23, 2009. The French government's Journal Officiel announced the creation on May 15, 2009, of an association known as "Le Desert de Retz Jardin des Lumieres." The purpose of the organization is to promote the Desert de Retz by organizing visits, conferendes and meetings as well as contributing to the restoration of the garden and commercialization of products. The association is headquartered in the Chamboury Town Hall.

  Déclaration à la sous-préfecture de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. LE DESERT DE RETZ, JARDIN DES LUMIERES. Objet : le développement et la mise en oeuvre toute action et animation ayant pour but la promotion du Désert de Retz, site classé monument historique (MH). Elle travaille notamment à organiser des visites et conférences, ainsi que des rencontres fréquentes avec ses partenaires dans les domaines associatifs et culturels. Elle participe à l’évolution des programmes de réhabilitation, elle commercialise des produits dérivés pour le compte de la commune de Chambourcy. Les relations avec la commune sont définies dans le cadre d’une convention. Siège social : Hôtel de Ville, place Charles de Gaulle, 78240 Chambourcy. Annonce.

• March 27, 2009. Dr. Pierre Morange, Mayor of Chambourcy and Deputy in the French National Assembly, posted updated information about the Desert de Retz in French on his official blog.

  The mayor plans to open the Désert de Retz to the public by reservation only during the course of 2009 and hopes that the restored garden can serve as the venue for cultural activities and professional gatherings in the future.

• January 26, 2009. Site statistics for the Racine de Monville Home Page 2005-2008. Below is a table showing the total number of visits and the total number of countries of the visitors to this website for the years of 2005 through 2008 as compiled by OneStat.

  Year	Total Visits	Total Countries
  2005	19,494	116
  2006	11,232	101
  2007	13,521	101
  2008	15,188	108

• January 22, 2009. A blogger whose weblog is called Daniel Has Potential has uploaded a series of photographs of folly gardens in Europe, includng two of the Desert de Retz, the Pyramid Icehouse and the Column House.

• September 25, 2008. In a telephone conversation, a representative of the Chambourcy Town Hall confirmed the acquisition of the Desert de Retz and the approval of the transaction by the Conseil d'Etat.

• September 11, 2008. A French website, SainGer.com reported today that the Ambassador of the United States to France, the Honorable Craig Stapleton, accompanied by the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, the Honorable Cho Il-Hwan, recently paid an unofficial visit to the Desert de Retz. The town of Chambourcy has posted pictures of the visit on its website. The town is currently seeking philantrophic support for the restauration of the various structures in the garden in view of its eventual reopening to the public.

• August 8, 2008. The Russian economics journal Vedomosti published an article about British and European folly gardens with a description of the Desert de Retz and links to the Racine de Monville Home Page and other folly websites.

• July 26, 2008. Gwenda Brophy has written an excellent overview of British and Continental folly gardens in the Financial Times entitled Extreme Living, with specific reference to the Desert de Retz.

• July 16, 2008. The Racine de Monville Home Page was added to the "Architecture Buildng Types" category of the Airnyc--All About Arts online arts directory.

• May 30, 2008. The Centre Franco-Chinois of the University of Tongji in Shanghai, China, organized an important exposition entitled Cathay aux Jardins des Lumières: «L’image de la Chine dans les jardins en France au XVIIIe siècle» . The exposition ran from May 30 through July 15, 2008.

  Correspondence and books, most notably an important work by the Englishman William Chambers after a visit to China, aroused a wave of enthusiasm in Europe for Chinese gardens in the latter half of the 18th century that led to the construction of numerous "Chinese" follies and pavilions, including Monsiur de Monville's Chinese House.

  The exposition chronicles and documents these structures with numerous reproductions of 18th century engravings and recent color photographs as well as explanatory texts in Chinese and French.

  View all all twenty-nine panels of the exposition.

• May 2, 2008. The Aqueduc de Retz was built during the reign of Louis XIV--from around 1680 to 1690. Its purpose was to provide water for the fountains in the gardens of the Chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. A French-language website called Rue des Lumières has posted a map and descriptive texts, along with 31 color photographs of the six-kilometer long underground aquaduct.

  L’aqueduc de Retz, construit sous Louis XIV (vers 1680-1690), avait pour vocation d’alimenter en eau les fontaines du château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Carte et textes. Trente-et-une photographies couleur.

• April 3, 2008. In a subsequent post on the blog referenced below, Nathalie Bieleu cites an article appearing in the April 3, 2008, issue of Courier des Yvelines stating that the Desert de Retz had, in fact, been purchased by the Société Foncière de Joyenval, which owns the golf course adjacent to the garden.

  Additionally, a new entry, undated, Nouvelles du Désert, on the website of the Association Histoire de Chambourcy, de Retz et d'Aigremont (HISCREA), states that the Société Foncière de Joyenval had in fact purchased the Desert de Retz and immediately retroceded it to the town of Chambourcy for a symbolic payment of 1 euro--pending approval of the transaction by the Conseil d'Etat, the legal advisory authority of the French government.

• February 1, 2008. In an entry entitled "Le Désert de Retz va sortir de l'oubli", Nathalie Joëlle Bieleu, the author of a French-language blog called moi telle que je suis blogueuse globetrotteuse quoted a parliamentarian representing the town of Chambourcy as saying that the Desert de Retz would be "acquired for the symbolic price of one euro and opened to the public during 2009."

• November 20, 2007. Pierre Berloquin added a comment about the Desert de Retz and a link to the Racine de Monville Home Page in his French-language blog, Circonstances atténuantes.

• November 12, 2007. Author John Kremer included Monsieur de Monville's Column House in his list of the world's Top 7 Weirdest Houses as an entry in his blog Hot Times, Cool Places.

• November 6, 2007. A French weblog called Forêt de l'Arc-en-Ciel, which describes itself as a "forum ésotérique," published a post by "Phidéliane" entitled Le jardin à Fabriques : l'exemple du Desert de Retz, consisting of a series of photographs and maps of the Desert de Retz scavanged from various sites on the internet, including the Racine de Monville Home Page, along with a commentary in French.

• June, 2007. Swedish historians Lars & Nanna Cnattingius included a description of the Desert de Retz and a full-page color photograph of Monsieur de Monville's Column House by the webmaster in their book, Ruiner. Historia, öden och vård.

• April 27, 2007 Ronald W. Kenyon delivered a two-hour lecture in French about the Désert de Retz in the Salle de la Chaussée in the town of L'Etang-la-Ville. The lecture was sponsored by the L'Etang-la-Ville chapter of Accueil des Villes Françaises. Photo of the lecture, courtesy Pierre Isselin.