Château de Chenonceau

Chenonceau does something no other French château does: it walks across a river. Its main body stands on the piers of an old mill in the Cher, and from it a long gallery runs on arches all the way to the far bank, so that the building is mirrored in the water on both sides. The present château was built in 1514–22 by Thomas Bohier, chamberlain to Charles VIII, whose wife Katherine Briçonnet supervised the work; of the earlier castle they kept only the fifteenth-century keep, which still stands. The result is a graceful mix of late Gothic and early Renaissance, and after Versailles it is the most visited château in France.

It is often called the château of the ladies, and its story is told through them. Henry II gave it to his mistress Diane de Poitiers, who had Philibert de l'Orme build the bridge across the Cher in 1556–59 and laid out a great garden on the riverbank, protected by terraces from floods. When Henry died, his widow Catherine de' Medici forced Diane to swap it for Chaumont, made Chenonceau her favourite residence, added her own garden, held lavish festivities there — including the first fireworks display seen in France, in 1560 — and had Jean Bullant build the gallery on the bridge, completed in 1576–77. Louise of Lorraine, widow of Henry III, spent eleven years in mourning here. In the eighteenth century Louise Dupin kept a celebrated salon attended by Voltaire, Montesquieu and Buffon, with Rousseau as her secretary, and her standing in the district is credited with saving the château during the Revolution.

Later owners restored and changed it; since 1913 it has belonged to the Menier family of chocolate makers. In the First World War the gallery served as a hospital ward, and in the Second the Cher marked the demarcation line, so that the gallery offered a way from the occupied zone to the free zone across the river. Today the visit includes the richly furnished rooms, the gallery, the formal gardens of Diane and Catherine, a flower garden and a maze in the park.

Getting there

Chenonceau is near the village of Chenonceaux in the Indre-et-Loire; Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, on the edge of Tours, is about 25 km away. Tours Val de Loire Airport (TUF) is about 29 km away. Regional TER trains run from Tours to Chenonceaux station, a short walk from the château gate.