Château de Chenonceau Architecture and History

The Château de Chenonceau is a sixteenth-century French manor house, occasionally referred to as Chenonceau Castle, located in the Loire Valley near the commune of Amboise, about two and a half hours southwest of Paris. The château was built on the foundations of an old mill and later extended to cross the Cher River, with a bridge designed by Renaissance architect Philibert de l’Orme. Today, it is the second most visited château in France, after the Palace of Versailles.

The many powerful women who oversaw the design and construction of the Château de Chenonceau have given the property the nickname château des dames (ladies’ château).

• The Marques Family: During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Chenonceau estate belonged to the Marques family. It was burned down in 1412 as punishment for an act of sedition by then-owner Jean Marques. In the 1430s, Marques rebuilt the château on the foundations of the old mill, but the expenses incurred by the reconstruction forced Jean’s heir, Pierre Marques, to sell the castle to Thomas Bohier, who was the chamberlain to King Charles VIII of France
• Thomas Bohier and Katherine Briçonnet: Thomas Bohier, a financial minister in Normandy, and his wife, Katherine Briçonnet, demolished the majority of the structures, apart from the dungeon, now known as the Tour des Marques, and built new residences from 1515 to 1521. Briconnet oversaw the construction and would often host the French elite, including King Francis I.
• Diane de Poitiers: King Francis I seized the estate from Bohier’s heirs for unpaid debts. Francis’s heir, King Henry II, then gifted the Château de Chenonceau to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, with the crown retaining ownership. De Poitiers expanded the château, commissioning Philibert de l’Orme to build a bridge that would span the River Cher, and added the gardens.
• Catherine de Medici: After Henry passed, his widow, Queen Catherine de’ Medici, forced Diane to trade her Chenonceau for the nearby Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire. Catherine moved in and added further to the formal gardens, added rooms on the east side of the corps de logis (the main block of the building) and a service wing on the west side of the courtyard. She was known for hosting extravagant parties, including the first-ever fireworks display in France, held in honor of her son Francis II.
• Louise de Lorraine: Upon Catherine’s death in 1589, the château (and Catherine’s considerable debt) fell to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine, the wife of King Henry III. To pay her debt, Louise betrothed her six-year-old niece, Françoise de Lorraine, to the four-year-old duc de Vendôme, César de Bourbon, the son of King Henri IV and his mistress, Gabrielle d’Estrees. The Bourbon family took over the estate and used the location primarily for hunting.
• Louise Dupin: Claude Dupin and Louise Dupin bought the château from the Bourbons in 1733. Louise used her home to host a literary salon attended by Enlightenment thinkers including writers Voltaire and Montesquieu and the naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau worked as Madame Dupin’s secretary and tutored her son. During the French Revolution, Louise Dupin prevented the château’s destruction by emphasizing its utility as a bridge.
• Marguerite Pelouze: Marguerite Pelouze acquired the château in 1864 and commissioned architect Félix Roguet to restore the buildings, removing many of Catherine de’ Medici’s additions. The expensive renovations to the castle and lavish events Pelouze hosted there caused her to fall into debt. The estate was repossessed and sold to José-Emilio Terry in 1891.
• Henri Menier: French businessman Henri Menier bought the château in 1913. During World War I, Henri’s brother Gaston transformed the castle into a military hospital, and in World War II, the château’s bridge formed an escape route from the Nazi-occupied side of the river to the free side, until it was occupied by the Germans (and later bombed by the allies).
• Today: Today the château serves as a museum and remains privately owned by the Menier family.

Over the centuries, several architects have made important changes to the Château de Chenonceau.

• Philibert de l’Orme: Considered one of the great masters of French Renaissance architecture, l’Orme was born in Lyon, France, but spent time in Italy, where he worked on projects for Pope Paul III. The château features the bridge he designed, with its series of Gothic arches.
• Jean Bullant: An architect and sculptor, Bullant worked on the Louvre and built the tombs of Henri II and Catherine de Medici. Bullant added to the bridge l’Orme designed, by creating the grand gallery on top of the structure that spans the river, based on designs from l’Orme.
• Félix Roguet: Marguerite Pelouze hired Roguet to restore the château in the late nineteenth century. Roguet was the last architect to make major changes to the design of the château, removing some of Catherine de’ Medici’s additions and simplifying the north facade.

Throughout its long history, the fairytale-like Château de Chenonceau has gone through many stylistic changes.

• Late Gothic: Under Katherine Briçonnet’s guidance, the château was rebuilt in the early sixteenth century in late Gothic style, featuring a turreted pavilion, tower, and monumental entrance. It was also the French château to feature a straight staircase.
• French and Italian Renaissance: Diane de Poitiers updated the château during the French Renaissance, creating formal gardens across three acres. When Catherine de’ Medici took over, she brought the Italian Renaissance influence from her native Italy, adding enameled tiles, chimneys, and a series of windows across the grand gallery.
• Age of Enlightenment: Louise Dupin was a feminist and supporter of the French Enlightenment. She made changes to the château that reflected the purpose of art and conversation, such as a theater added to the end of the gallery.
• Return to opulence: Marguerite Pelouze re-populated the structures with the lavish Renaissance style of Catherine de Medici.

The Château de Chenonceau is easily recognized by these six characteristic features.

1. 1. Tour des Marques: The dungeon, known as the Tour des Marques, is the oldest structure on the property and the only surviving evidence of the Château de Chenonceau’s first inhabitants, the Marques family. Located on the right bank of the Cher River, the round tower stands slightly apart from the rest of the structure.
2. 2. Formal gardens: Both Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de’ Medici contributed greatly to the spectacular formal French gardens that you can still tour today. The gardens feature gray Santolina shrubs arranged in intricate curls.
3. 3. North facade: De’ Medici introduced Renaissance details to the château, including unique sculptures added to the facade. Most were removed and relocated to the estate’s gardens, where they can still be viewed.
4. 4. Louise de Lorraine’s bedroom: The various women who resided at the château over the years often brought unique decorative elements to the castle. Today, you can tour a reproduction of Mourning Widow Louise de Lorraine’s bedroom, painted black and featuring death-related motifs such as tears and gravediggers’ shovels.
5. 5. Bridge and gallery: By far the most recognizable feature of the château is the bridge that spans the Cher River, and the gallery that tops the bridge. Throughout its history, the gallery has been altered to the owner’s wishes, including windows and chimneys for de Medici and a theater for Louise Dupin.

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