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- the thematic guide to France
France - the land of six thousand castles
This
page looks at authentic French ch�teaux from the
Renaissance
to the 18th century. It does not include medieval castles (for these
see
►
fortresses)
nor 19th century ch�teaux, nor ch�teaux such as
Pierrefonds in the
Oise or
Hautefort
in the Dordogne, that were extensively rebuilt and/or
embellished in the nineteenth or twentieth century.
The
word "ch�teau" covers everything from medieval dungeons and
fortresses
to the country houses that grace many wine estates. This
page presents a choice of the finest French ch�teaux,
including some
that are less well known
Stay
in a Renaissance ch�teau?
A fair number of
privately-owned French ch�teaux offer B&B or
hotel-style
accommodation. Here is a small selection of some of the most historic
and attractive.
Loire valley:
between Blois and Tours.
Hotel
Ch�teau de Pray - Near Amboise in the Loire valley
- a
Renaissance ch�teau with 19 rooms and Michelin listed
restaurant.
Valley of the
Cher: south of Cheverny
Ch�teau
de Ch�mery B&B - Experience the intimacy
of a small
Loire valley Renaissance ch�teau. Five suites in
this small
moated ch�teau.
Loire valley:
near ChinoHotel
Ch�teau de Mar�ay - stay in a genuine
15th century Loire
ch�teau. Four star. 22 rooms. gourmet restaurant.
Sarthe: near le
Mans
Hotel
Ch�teau de la Barre - Just five suites in this
fabulous
Renaissance ch�teau, owned by the de Vanssay family for over
6
centuries. 100 acres or gardens.
Charentes
- Hotel
Chateau de Mirambeau
Five-star luxury hotel with Michelin starred restaurant in a
Renaissance chateau north of Cognac
To the question "How many ch�teaux are there in
France?" there
is no
definitive answer. It all depends on what you mean by the word
"ch�teau" ; and according to different interpretations of the
word,
there are said to be anything between 1,000 and 7,000
ch�teaux in
France.
France's historic monuments agency lists 6,450
ch�teaux or
manor houses, 900 of them owned by the state, the rest in private
hands, many of them owned by families that have lived in them for
generations. Some are big, some are relatively small.
Even excluding the smaller family residences that
call themselves ch�teaux, there are over 1,000
ch�teaux in France, many of them visitable; yet
unfortunately, or maybe
fortunately, most tourist websites and package tours concentrate on a
small number of
classic ch�teaux, such as the main
► Loire
valley
ch�teaux, or
► Mont Saint Michel
in Normandy; and while they are
definitely worth
visiting, these gems of France's historic heritage get overrun by
visitors for much of the year.
For a better visitor experience, it is
well worth looking out some of the hundreds more visitable historic
ch�teaux
that France has to offer - on or off the beaten track.
The lists below presents a couple of dozen of the best French
ch�teaux,
several of which are largely unknown outside their region. As for
smaller ch�teaux, the only way to find out which can
be
visited,
and
when, is to check out local tourist offices (or their websites), as
these may be the only sources of detailed and accurate
information for their area. Large tourist offices and web guides tend
to prioritize those ch�teaux that are alredy well-known,
often ignoring
the less important monuments, particularly those
that are privately owned.
French ch�teaux : the great regions and the great
ages

Chenonceau - one of the most visited Loire ch�teaux.
While there are plenty of ch�teaux in
most regions
and
areas of France, some regions have a particularly rich
historic
heritage, on account of their
turbulent past, or their later prosperity.
Regions that saw centuries of strife and
conflict in the Middle Ages tend to be rich in historic fortified
castles (see
►
medieval
fortresses).; other areas have a fine
choice of peacetime ch�teaux, built as royal or
noble
residences when times were good. In other areas, visitors can discover
large numbers of ch�teaux built in the eighteenth or
nineteenth
centuries by prosperous merchants or landowners.
The finest of France's historic ch�teaux
date from
the
►
Renaissance
(15th century) to the "Grand si�cle", the 17th century.
The
areas
with the largest concentration of
spectacular Renaissance and grand-si�cle ch�teaux
are the parts of
France that were at the time both prosperous agricultural areas and in
relatively easy striking distance of Paris. The
Ch�teaux of the Loire indeed make up the finest group of
Renaissance
castles or palaces anywhere in Europe; but they are not the only such
castles that France has to offer.
To the southeast of Paris, Burgundy is another area with plenty of
ch�teaux to visit - from fine late gothic castles to
neo-classical
ch�teaux of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries .
The French call the 17th Century "le grand
si�cle"
- the
great century. This was the time when France was a great European
power, and French culture was at its zenith. It was the golden age of
kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV. It was the age of great French
architects, thinkers, philosophers and writers. It was the baroque age;
but baroque in France was not the ornate florid baroque of Italy or
Germany; it was ebullient, but more classical. It was the start of
neoclassisism, a style that grew out of the Renaissance's rediscovery
of classical art and architecture. And as far as ch�teaux go,
it was
the age that saw the building of some of the most iconic of French
ch�teaux, fine ch�teaux that never had any military
signification, but
were stately homes, an expression of their owners' prestige.
The greatest of the ch�teaux of the
Grand
Si�cle is of course the
Ch�teau
de Versailles, Louis XIV's great royal residence ten miles
to
the west of
Paris, which immediately became the benchmark whereby kings and princes
all over Europe set their architectural standards.
Versailles was never remotely matched in grandeur,
at least not in France; but the 17th and 18th centuries saw the
building of many very fine smaller ch�teaux all over France,
ch�teaux
that came to define the paradigm of the French ch�teau until
the
twentieth century.
A pick
of the finest historic ch�teaux in France
Chateaux
in Northern
France - Paris area and further north
- Ch�teau
de
Versailles, Louis XIV's great royal residence ten miles to
the west of
Paris.
Open all year
- The
Ch�teau
de Fontainebleau, south of Paris - The royal
ch�teau of King Fran�ois 1. A magnificent
Renaissance
rebuilding of an older ch�teau. Open all year.
- The Ch�teau
of Ecouen, 20 km north of Paris. A fine
Renaissance
ch�teau, housing the French national museum of the
Renaissance. Open
all year.
- The ch�teau of Vaux
le Vicomte, near Melun, 50 km southeast of Paris, with its
classic symmetry and its great gardens � la
fran�aise, was the model
that inspired many other French baroque chateaux large and small.
- The Ch�teau
d'Anet, west of Paris, near Dreux, right in the north of
the Centre
-Val de Loire. This Renaissance
chateau was the residence of Diane de Poitiers. Privately owned. Open
February to
November.
- The Chateau de Josselin, in Morbihan, Brittany.
On the base of an impressive medieval fortress, with towers, this late
gothic / early Renaissance castle is one of the most impressive
historic sites in Brittany. It was thoroughly restored in the 18th century. Guided tours.
- The Ch�teau
d'Etelan, near Rouen in Normandy; a
delightful small Renaissance/gothic chateau. Open June to September
- The Ch�teau
de Fontaine Henry : Normandy - between
Caen and the coast. Privately owned, and in the same family since the
Middle Ages. Open from spring to autumn.
- The Chateau
de Fl�ville - on the outskirts of Nancy, in the
Lorraine
region. Reputedly the finest Renaissance castle in the east of France,
one of the few major ch�teaux in this part of France that
escaped
demolition after the Thirty Years War. Essentially 16th
century. Open
from mid-April.
- The ch�teau de Harou�,
in the Lorraine
region, south of Nancy. A substantial privately owned classic French
castle, partly
surrounded by a moat. Open weekends June to August, and daily from mid
July to mid-August.
Chateaux in central France - from the Loire valley to Burgundy
- The
Renaissance ch�teaux of the Loire (See Ch�teaux of the Loire)
and Touraine. The most famous and most visited
Renaissance ch�teaux in
France - though some, like Chambord
and Chenonceaux,
are far more
visited than others.
- Among the Loire valley ch�teaux, Cheverny, southwest
of Orleans, is the greatest classic ch�teau dating
essentially from the
seventeenth century.
- The Renaissance ch�teau de Montgeoffroy
stands to the east of Angers in the Pays de la Loire
region. It is open every day in July and August, and otherwise
from Wednesday to Sunday from March to October. Privately owned.
- The Ch�teau
d'Ainay le Vieil - Slap in the middle of France, south of
Saint Amand Montrond, r�gion Centre
-Val de Loire. A delightful small Renaissance chateau built
within the fortifications of a medieval fortress, surrounded by a
moat. Privately owned - in the same family for over 5
centuries. Open March to mid November.
- The Ch�teau
de Meillant, also in the far south of the Centre
-Val de Loire.
A decidedly beautiful late gothic /early Renaissance castle, with
ornate tapestries and painted ceilings, open daily from March to 16th
November
- The Chateau
de Bussy-Rabutin. A beautiful 14th - 16th
century moated ch�teau in the hills to the west of Dijon in Burgundy.
Open all year except 1st January
- The Ch�teau
d'Ancy le Franc. East of Auxerre, in Burgundy, is a fine
Italianate Renaissance chateau . Privately owned. The interior
contains the largest collection of Renaissance murals and ceiling
decorations in France. Open late March to mid November.
- The Ch�teau
de St Fargeau. in the north of Burgundy,
is a large 15th - 17th century ch�teau. Privately owned. From
mid-July
to mid-August, this ch�teau provides evening visits with
historic
reenactments; Fridays and Saturdays there is a large historic son et
lumi�re event.
- The Ch�teau de Cormatin,
in Burgundy.
A fine neoclassical ch�teau standing in beautiful
grounds and
surrounded by a moat. Richly decorated interiors, including
the "golden rooms". Open daily April to mid-November.
Fine ch�teaux in Southern France
- The ch�teau
de Lapalisse, or La Palice. East of Vichy, in Auvergne,
this is an imposing 16th - 16th century ch�teau standing on a
bluff
above the river Besbre and the village of Lapalisse. The interior has
historic tapestries and a unique 16th century "salon dor�"
with gilded
ceiling.
- The Ch�teau
de Panloy, near Saintes in the Charentes,
was built in 1760 and has belonged to the same family ever since..
coming unscathed through the French Revolution. Its interior
furnishings are completely authentic. Open April to 1st November.
- The Ch�teau
de Montbazillac, southern Dordogne.
Built in the middle of the 16th century, this is one of the finest
French wine estate ch�teaux. The interior does not have a lot
of
historic interest, but the location is superb. Owned by the local
wine-growers cooperative. Free wine tasting included.
- The Chateau
de Lareole - 40 km northwest of Toulouse, in the Midi-Pyrenees
area of Occitanie. A striking late Renaissance chateau begun in 1589.
- The Chateau
de Merville - 25 km northwest of Toulouse, in the Midi-Pyrenees
area of Occitanie. A classic French ch�teau built in the
style of the
southwest. Visits of the ch�teau daily in the afternoon July
and
August.. At other times, check it out.
- The
Ch�teau
de Lourmarin, north of Aix en Provence. the oldest
Renaissance chateau in Provence.
Belongs to the Louis Vuibert foundation. Open all year
- The Ch�teau
de la Verdi�re, in inland Provence, is an
impressive 18th
century French ch�teau built in the Proven�al
style. A private ch�teau
open to the public afternoons in July and August, except Mondays
There's
more to France than the same old sites that are mentioned in all the
tourist guides .....