Château

A château (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).

French châteaux

Loire Valley

The Loire Valley (Val de Loire) is home to more than 300 châteaux. They were built between the 10th and 20th centuries, first by the French kings and soon followed by the nobility, which have caused the valley to be called "the Garden of France".

Related Topics:
Loire Valley - 300 châteaux - 10th - 20th

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Dampierre-en-Yvelines

(illustration, right), built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, 1675 - 1683 for the duc de Chevreuse, Colbert's son-in-law, is a French Baroque chateau of manageable size. Protected behind fine wrought iron double gates, the main block and its outbuildings (corps de logis), linked by balustrades, are ranged symmetrically around a dry paved and gravelled cour d'honneur. Behind, the central axis is extended between the former parterres, now mown hay. The park with formally shaped water was laid out by André Le Notre. There are sumptuous interiors. The small scale (compared to Vaux-le-Vicomte for example) makes it easier to compare it to the approximately contemporary Het Loo, for William III of Orange. These really are "Mansart roofs."

Related Topics:
Jules Hardouin-Mansart - Duc de Chevreuse - Colbert - Baroque - Parterre - André Le Notre - Vaux-le-Vicomte - Het Loo - William III of Orange

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Bordeaux

There are many estates with true châteaux on them in Bordeaux, but it is customary for any wine-producing estate, no matter how humble, to prefix its name with "Château". This is true whether the building itself is a magnificent palace or a shack. If there were any trace of doubt that the Roman villas of Aquitaine evolved into fortified self-contained châteaux, the wine-producing châteaux would dispel it.

Related Topics:
Bordeaux - Wine - Aquitaine

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