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In the Dordogne, at Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, the Château des Milandes attracts many visitors. It belonged to the artist Joséphine Baker, who will soon enter the Pantheon.
There was a real blow to heart between Joséphine Baker and the Château des Milandes, located in Castelnaud-la-Chapelle in the Dordogne. At first, she rented it in 1938 before finally buying it in 1947. Now a museum, her home collects objects that evoke the memory of the artist, such as her “famous banana belt that she wore in 1927 at the Folies Bergères in a review called ‘La folie du jour'”, says Angélique de Saint-Exupéry, owner of the castle.
Visitors can also discover the other facets of Josephine Baker. One room recalls in particular that she was a committed patriot and decorated with the Legion of Honor. Angélique de Saint-Exupéry explains that very early on, the artist understood “that we must not ally with Marshal Pétain and that we must in fact go with General De Gaulle”. During the Occupation, the castle would even have served as a hideout for the Resistance. The site visit also mentions the twelve children from various continents and different religions that she adopted in 1955. Too spendthrift and undoubtedly too generous, she had to sell her castle in 1968.