Château de Châteaudun

About

Châteaudun Castle is a castle built in the 12th century and renovated in the 15th and 16th centuries, located on a rocky spur overlooking the French commune of Châteaudun and the Loir, in the department of Eure-et-Loir. With the Château de Montsoreau (1453) and the Palais Jacques-Coeur (1451), it is one of the first examples of recreational architecture in France. The dungeon, the oldest building, was built around 1180 by Thibaut V, Count of Blois.

Jean de Dunois (1402-1468), a bastard of Louis I of Orléans and a companion of Jeanne d'Arc, who had received the castle as a reward for the release of his half-brother Charles d'Orléans, prisoner of the English, turned him into a residence, adding a body of Gothic style houses and the chapel. A second Renaissance wing was added in the 16th century. The castle, which is perfectly preserved, is managed by the National Monuments Centre, it is protected as historical monuments.