At the beginning of Louis XIV'reign, France was in an alarming economic situation. In response, Colbert developed the system of "Manufactures Royales", monopolies granted to individuals under the control of the state. The dutchman Josse van Robais accepted tofound an up to date weaving industry in France, of worshipping according to the Protestant rite, and the offer of exclusive rights to protected markets.

 At this period Abbeville was a sea port its moist climate was well suited to textile production: van Robais settled there in 1665, with his family, his pastor and his workmen> he built the Manufacture des Rames and rapidly achieved success, bringing the town a degry of prosperity which it had not known since the Middle Ages.

 For the reception of his clients, Abraham van Robais, Josse's grand son, decided around 1750 to build a small pavillon out in the  surrounding country, one of those follies dear to regency taste ( from the french "maison des feuilles"- a house lost in the leafy woods).

 Small and extremly refined, this building was, at the beginning, a mere bagatelle, an object of small importance. It had only three rooms, with neither kitchen nor bedroom, no cellar. Meals were provided by the neighbouring farm. It had been built directly on the bare earth with a flat terrace roof, and this simple summer house was not intended to be a monument to prosterity. However, by one of those miracles which in fact owe nothing to chance, this little folly is still there for us to see and love.

 the Duc of Crotoy, military governor of Picardy at that period, recalls Bagatelle in his memories; Sedaine a celebrated poet of his time wrote about it. Right from the start, the perfection of Bagatelle attracted attention. Voltaire wrote that "Monsieur van Robais lives there like a prince".

 In about 1765, Josse van Robais, Abraham's son, decided to add an extra story. A grand staircase was added, while the whole  was now protected by a Mansard roof, a style named after the french  architect who invented it.

 At the Revolution, van Robais sold Bagatelle and left France. The house was closed, and the ornemental gardens, as happens in all wars, were turned over to cultivation. In 1810 Francois de Wailly bought the property: Bagatelle would be preserved in its entirety, with the subsequent addition of Music room an, symetrically, an extra wing for living quarters.

 But in 1944 Bagatelle had been machine gunned, his roof partially burned, gutted by a bomb, and was supported by tree trunks to prevent structural collapse. Saved,repaired,restored, today Bagatelle preserves intact that magic charm which continues to exite the loving admiration of those who visit it. As reward for this exemplary act of historical conservation, in 1963 André Malraux gave Jacques de Wailly one of the first newly instituted State awards for "Masterpiece in Peril"