Château
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A château (plural châteaux) is a manor house or castle of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry.
The term comes from French-speaking regions and is used most often for buildings in these regions. Where clarification is needed, a fortified château (that is, a castle) is called a château fort. But the word is not used in the same way as "castle" is in English, and most châteaux are more appropriately described as "palaces" or "country houses" in English than as "castles". For example, the Château de Versailles is so called because it was in the country when it was built, but it does not bear any resemblance to a castle, so it is usually known in English as the Palace of Versailles.The Château de Montsoreau is the first Renaissance château to have been built in France, in the world famous Loire Valley. The Château de Montsoreau is also the only one to have been built in the Loire riverbed.
Château Media
Cour d'honneur by Louis Le Vau at Château de Versailles, subsequently copied all over Europe
This building is indexed in the base Mérimée, a database of architectural heritage maintained by the French Ministry of Culture, under the reference PA00097802
The Château de Dampierre, Dampierre-en-Yvelines, France, eastern aspect
Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte
Château Margaux in Margaux (Gironde, France). National Heritage Site of France.
Image of the exterior of the Bordeaux wine estate Chateau Haut Brion.
Château d'Yquem - Bordeaux - Sauternes
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Other websites
- Photos of Loire Châteaux
- Château de l'Isle-Marie
- Roquetaillade castle
- Château de Ravignan Archived 2007-12-01 at the Wayback Machine
- Château de Montreuil-Bellay
- Château de Fontainebleau Archived 2009-01-29 at the Wayback Machine
- Château de Bellocq Bearn (in french)
- Château Saint-Aubin Archived 2008-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
- Château of Gaston Phoebus at Morlanne in Bearn (in French)