Château de Chenonceau

Château de Chenonceau

A castle on the water

Of all the châteaux of the Loire valley, none is more graceful than Chenonceau. Its long gallery stretches right across the river Cher, resting on a row of stone arches, so that the château seems to float upon the water, perfectly mirrored in the gentle current below. Surrounded by gardens and woods, it is one of the most beautiful and most visited castles in all of France.

The Castle of the Ladies

Chenonceau is often called the "Château des Dames" — the Castle of the Ladies — because so many of the women who shaped it left their mark on its history. More than any other great French castle, its story is told through remarkable women.

It was a woman, Katherine Briçonnet, who oversaw the building of the main house in the early 1500s while her husband was away. Later the château was given by King Henry II to Diane de Poitiers, who created beautiful gardens beside the river and had the first bridge built across the Cher.

Diane and Catherine

When King Henry II died, his widow, the powerful Queen Catherine de' Medici, took Chenonceau for herself. Catherine had the famous two-storey gallery built on top of Diane's bridge, stretching right across the river, and she held dazzling parties and festivals there, with fireworks and feasts to impress the court. The rivalry between Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de' Medici over this lovely château is one of the most famous tales of the French Renaissance.

In later centuries other women cared for Chenonceau too, including one who welcomed great thinkers and writers of the age, and another whose family lovingly restored it.

A bridge in two world wars

Chenonceau's gallery, spanning the river, played a surprising part in modern history. During the First World War, the gallery was turned into a hospital, where many wounded soldiers were cared for. During the Second World War, the river Cher marked a border between two parts of France, and the château's gallery — with a door at each end on opposite banks — became a secret crossing point that helped people escape to safety.

Gardens and beauty

Chenonceau is famous not only for its building but for its gardens. The grand garden of Diane de Poitiers and the garden of Catherine de' Medici still bloom beside the river, full of flowers laid out in neat patterns. Inside, the château is filled with fine furniture, tapestries and paintings, and its rooms are decorated with fresh flowers grown in its own gardens.

Visiting today

Visitors can walk through the château's elegant rooms, stroll the great gallery suspended over the flowing river, and wander the colourful gardens on either bank. From the windows of the gallery, the view down the Cher is enchanting. Graceful, romantic and shaped by a line of extraordinary women, Château de Chenonceau is one of the true jewels of the Loire valley.