Hauts LieuxChapels, sanctuaries & legends

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Legendary castleEure-et-Loir

Château de Châteaudun

Châteaudun

Dimensions
Cylindrical keep 31 m to the eaves (42 m in total), 17 m in diameter, walls 4 m thick
Period
Keep around 1180 (Thibault V of Blois); Sainte-Chapelle 1451–1493; Gothic wing 1459–1468; Louis XII wing late 15th – early 16th century
What stands there
70 tapestries preserved, including a seven-piece hanging dated 1640–1650; around fifteen statues of saints

Perched on a rocky spur overlooking the Loir, the château's cylindrical keep, one of the oldest of its kind in France, was raised around 1180 by Thibault V, count of Blois. Jean de Dunois, known as the Bastard of Orléans, companion of Joan of Arc at the siege of Orléans in 1429, transformed the fortress into a residence between 1451 and 1468 by adding a Gothic wing and a chapel. The dukes of Longueville continued the work with the north wing in the Louis XII style. The Sainte-Chapelle, built from 1451 to 1493, is one of the eleven medieval royal chapels of France.

Getting there : Listed as a monument historique since 1918; managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux, open all year

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

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Château de Châteaudun
Claurin · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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In the same department

All places — Eure-et-Loir (13).