Château de Tiffauges

Tiffauges

Perched on a rocky spur at the confluence of the Sèvre Nantaise and the Crûme, on the borders of Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, the château de Tiffauges owes its notoriety to one of the darkest figures of the late Middle Ages: Gilles de Rais. Companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, made Marshal of France in 1429 after the coronation of Charles VII at Reims, this great lord inherited the fortress and enlarged it sumptuously in the 15th century, leading a ruinous lifestyle there mingled with alchemical practices. Yet it was for crimes of an altogether different nature — the abduction and murder of dozens of children — that he was tried and burned at Nantes in 1440, in a trial whose echo still carries across the centuries. Popular tradition, from the Romantic era onwards, linked his name to the tale by Charles Perrault published in 1697 and renamed the ruins "Bluebeard's castle", cheerfully blurring true history and literary legend. Listed as a historic monument and open to the public since 1957, the site today displays its keep, curtain walls and seigneurial lodgings in an atmosphere that has lost none of its disquieting majesty, between demonstrations of medieval war machines and the memory of one of the most terrible criminal cases in the history of France.

Getting there : Tourist site with admission charge, medieval events and demonstrations, car parks on site at Tiffauges (between Cholet and Montaigu)

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

Ambient sound