Château d'Azay-le-Rideau

Azay-le-Rideau

The château one visits today was built on an island in the Indre, probably from 1518, by Gilles Berthelot, treasurer of France, and his wife Philippe Lesbahy. Work stopped in 1527: accused of embezzlement, Berthelot fled to Metz while his cousin Semblançay was hanged at Montfaucon, and François I confiscated the château and gave it to Antoine Raffin, captain of his archers. It had replaced a fortress that tradition says was burned in 1418 by the Dauphin Charles — hence the name Azay-le-Brûlé, "Azay the Burnt", that the town is said to have borne for a long time. The capitulation of Henry II Plantagenet on 4 July 1189 is also placed here, as it is at Colombiers, now Villandry, which has its own entry. Restored in the nineteenth century by the Marquises de Biencourt, the château has belonged to the State since 1905 and is a listed historic monument. Balzac saw it, in Le Lys dans la vallée, as "a diamond cut in facets, set in the Indre".

Getting there : Open year-round except 1 January, 1 May and 25 December, paid entry.

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

Ambient sound