Château

A ch?teau (French for castle; plural châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of gentry, usually French, with or without fortifications. The urban counterpart of "château" is palais (palace).

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If a château is not old, then it must be grand. A château is a "power house" as Sir John Summerson dubbed the English (and Georgian Irish) "Stately homes" that are social counterparts of châteaux. It is the personal (and hopefully hereditary) badge of a family that represents the royal authority at some rank, locally. Thus this word is often used to refer to a residence of a member of the French royalty or the nobility, but some fine châteaux, such as Vaux-le-Vicomte were built by the essentially high bourgeois, but recently ennobled, tax-farmers and ministers of Louis XIII and his successors.

French: French can refer to more than one article:...

Castle: :The article describes the fortified building. See also castle (disambiguation)...

Manor: A manor is the house and land of a medieval lord....

Château related Images and Photos (experimental)

Chateau Pichon	Chateau Latour	Chateau de Val	Chateau Margaux
Chateau de Malle	Le Chateau	Chateau de Montresor	Chateau-Lafite-Wine
Le chateau II	Chateau Magnifique II	Chateau De La Roche-Guyon	Chateau De Chenonceau 2