Château de Montsoreau

The Montsoreau Castle is located on the banks of the Loire in the department of Maine -et -Loire in the Pays de la Loire. It was built around the middle of the 15th century by Jean de Chambes, confidant and diplomat Charles VII, instead of an older building. The strategically important castle once secured the road from Chinon to Saumur.

After the French Revolution the castle was divided among several owners. The rooms were used in the end only as apartments and storage rooms, and finally fell into the building. The fact that the ruins still remained popular, not least thanks to the novel La Dame de Montsoreau by Alexandre Dumas. After the department had purchased the castle, it was expertly restored.

Originally surging to the castle walls Loire flowed through man-made ditches around the courtyard. This fits in with the castle-like impression that the resultant of the late Middle Ages building conveys from the outside. On the courtyard side, however, flaunts especially the eastern staircase tower in the purest Renaissance decor. The elaborately designed roof zone of the main wing dubbed the defensive character. The halls in the interior still have their original beamed ceilings and fireplaces.

From the battlements of the castle one has a magnificent view of the Loire and the roofs of the pretty market town Montsoreau. In addition, the dried- out moat hewn out of the rock between the castle and the village can be seen.

The Chateau de Montsoreau is managed as a historic building since 1862 by the French Ministry of Culture. The management is now in the hands of a private company. In 2001 the castle was reopened after extensive restoration work under the motto Les imaginaires de Loire. Visitors are immersed in the context of an audiovisual tour of the landscape of the Loire in Anjou with its cultural, economic and social history.