Château de Cheverny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Château de Cheverny is located at Cheverny, in the département of Loir-et-Cher in the Loire Valley in France. The lands were purchased by Henri Hurault, Comte de Cheverny, and Treasurer for War under King Louis XI.
Lost to the Crown because of fraud to the State, it was donated by King Henri II to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. However, she preferred Château de Chenonceau and sold the property to the former owner's son, Philippe Hurault, who built the château between 1624 and 1630.
During the next 150 years ownership changed many times and in 1765 a major interior renovation was undertaken. Required to forfeit much of the Hurault wealth at the time of the French Revolution, the family sold it in 1802(the period of Napoleon Bonaparte) but bought it back in 1824. This was the period of the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy under King Charles I. The aristocracy was once again in a very strong political and economic position.
In 1914, the owner opened the chateau to the public, one of the first to ever do so. The family still operates it, and Château Cheverny remains a top tourist attraction to this day, renowned for magnificent interior rooms and its collection of furniture, tapestries, and objets d'art. Around 90 hunting dogs are also kept on the grounds and are taken out for hunts twice weekly. A video of their feeding can be viewed here.
Only a portion of the original fortified castle possibly remains in existance today. It is somewhat of a mystery, because to date there is no reliable way to prove whether or not a certain section is part of the original building. An ancient travelling artist captured the original castle in a drawing, but it contains no reliable landmarks, so the drawing offers no proof one way or the other.
[edit] Tintin
The Belgian comic book creator Hergé used Cheverny as a model for his fictional "Château de Moulinsart" (Marlinspike Hall in English) in the The Adventures of Tintin books. In these books, the two outermost wings are not present, but the remaining central tower and two wings are almost identical.
[edit] External links
- Castle homepage
- Tintin room at the Castle
| Châteaux of the Loire Valley |
 |
|---|---|
| Amboise • Angers • Azay-le-Rideau • Blois • La Bourdaisière • Chambord • Chaumont • Chenonceau • Châteaudun • Cheverny • Langeais • Loches • Menars • Montsoreau • Plessis-Bourré • Le Rivau • Saumur • Sully • Talcy • Troussay • Ussé • Valençay • Villandry |
