Château de Valençay

Valençay

Built from 1540 by Jacques d'Estampes on the site of a medieval fortress, the Château de Valençay marries a domed Renaissance keep with a classical main range completed in the 18th century. In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered his minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand to acquire the estate in order to receive the imperial diplomatic corps there. From 1808 to 1814, Talleyrand held the deposed King of Spain, Ferdinand VII, and the infantes Carlos and Antonio Pascual under house arrest here; their release was sealed by the Treaty of Valençay, signed at the château in December 1813. Talleyrand died here in 1838 and rests in the funerary chapel in the park. A local tradition tells that Napoleon, irritated by the memory of his Egyptian campaign, sliced off with a stroke of his sabre the tip of a pyramid-shaped goat's cheese presented to him during a visit: Valençay cheese, truncated ever since, is said to owe its characteristic shape to this. Owned by Talleyrand's descendants until 1952, the estate now belongs to the Conseil départemental of the Indre.

Getting there : Open to the public from April to November, admission charge; Valençay SNCF railway station in season; free car parks near the château.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound