7,500 people just banded together to buy a castle in France — and it's not too late to join them

Mothe-Chandeniers/Facebook

If you've ever dreamed of owning a French chateau, you're not alone. On Friday, 7,500 internet users banded together to buy a crumbling castle in the South of France through crowdfunding.

Sadly for them, that doesn't mean they all get a room to crash in. Instead, for a minimum of 60 euros, each participant gets a share of the castle, a membership card, and a say in what happens to its future.

The organizers of the project are part of a French group called "The Friends of the Castle of la Mothe-Chandeniers" that's dedicated to the preservation of the castle. The money was raised on Dartagnans, a French platform that crowdfunds French heritage preservation projects.

"It's done, it's historic! The Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers now belongs to thousands of Internet users," wrote the group on the fundraising page. 

The castle looks straight out of a fairytale, and it's not hard to see why the new owners decided to invest – here's what it's like.

The castle is in a tiny town in Western France called Les Trois-Moutiers.

Sauvons le chateau de la Mothe-Chandeniers/Facebook

The construction timeline of the castle is unknown, but the organizers think it dates back to the thirteenth century.

Sauvons le chateau de la Mothe-Chandeniers/Facebook

According to the campaign organizers, it was looted and abandoned during the French Revolution before being bought and restored by a wealthy Parisian businessman in 1809. Later, a squire of Napoleon bought it and undertook a massive restoration. 

 

 

But disaster struck in 1932 when a fire broke out and destroyed the castle.

Sauvons le chateau de la Mothe-Chandeniers/Facebook

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