Château de Montsoreau

At the confluence of two great rivers, the Château de Montsoreau rises from the Loire’s very bed in a feat unmatched by any other Loire Valley castle. This Renaissance residence stands as the sole château built directly in the Loire riverbed. Its white tuffeau stone walls reflect in waters that once filled its moats. Jean II de Chambes, private adviser to King Charles VII, began building the castle in its current form in 1450. The structure heralded a new era for the valley. The castle sits in the market town of Montsoreau, in the Maine-et-Loire département. It lies close to Saumur, Chinon, Fontevraud-l’Abbaye, and Candes-Saint-Martin.

Location of Château de Montsoreau

The Château de Montsoreau sits at the confluence of two rivers, the Loire and the Vienne. It also marks the meeting point of three historical regions: Anjou, Poitou, and Touraine. The commune lies in the Loire Valley in western France on the Loire. It stands 160 km from the Atlantic coast and 250 km from Paris. The village ranks among The Most Beautiful Villages of France. It also forms part of the Loire Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. Motorway A85 exit 5 at Bourgueil provides road access via the D960. The nearest train stations include Port Boulet at 11 km, Saumur at 17 km, and Tours at 57 km. Free parking along the Loire at Quai Alexandre Dumas serves visitors. Additional spaces await at the Arceau car park five minutes’ walk away. The castle stands within the Loire-Anjou-Touraine Regional Nature Park, a nationally protected region.

History of Château de Montsoreau

Archaeologists have verified a Gallo-Roman origin for the settlement of Montsoreau. The first written sources date from the 6th century with the domain of Restis. Yet the market town began to prosper only when builders constructed a fortress at the end of the 10th century. Odo the First count of Blois built the first fortified castle in 990. In 1001 the count of Anjou, Fulk Nerra, took it and gave it to Gautier I of Montsoreau. In 1152 and 1156 Henry II King of England besieged and took the castle twice. Jeanne Chabot’s marriage with John II of Chambes brought the castle into the great history of France. He began building it in its current form in 1450. As a man of power he exercised undeniable influence with the King.

Construction started in 1443 and reached completion in 1515, with the castle reaching 45 metres in height. The construction took about ten years, though later embellishments continued for decades. Jean II de Chambes, diplomat in Venice and Turkey and private counsellor of King Charles VII, built the main structure on the Loire river banks. During the Renaissance, many kings and queens stopped by the castle. Louis XI visited in 1471, Anne of Brittany and her daughter Claude of France in 1505, François I in 1508. The castle welcomed illustrious artists such as Auguste Rodin and William Turner. Parts of the Château de Montsoreau received recognition as a historical building by the French government in 1862, 1930, and 1938. The entire Loire Valley, including Montsoreau, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on November 30, 2000.

Current status

In 1913, the département of Maine et Loire became the owner of the castle. After acquiring the various properties that make up the castle in 1913, the Maine-et-Loire department undertook a first restoration campaign in 1923. A second campaign followed in 1997. The Château de Montsoreau-Museum Contemporary Art opened as a private museum to the public on 8 April 2016. Collector Philippe Méaille collaborated with the department of Maine-et-Loire to make the opening possible. This collaboration took place in April 2016. The permanent collection exhibited consists of Philippe Méaille’s collection of works by the conceptual art collective Art & Language.

The museum holds the world’s largest collection of works by the Art & Language movement. It sits in the Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Maine-et-Loire in the commune of Montsoreau between Angers and Tours. The department runs the castle as a contemporary art venue while preserving its Renaissance architecture. The museum opens Monday to Sunday from 10am to 7pm. In 2017, the castle developed and reopened the historic port of the castle, abandoned for 500 years. River shuttles between Saumur and Montsoreau now operate for visitors. The marriage of fifteenth-century military architecture with avant-garde conceptual art creates an experience where history and modernity converse across five centuries. The Loire flows beneath walls that have witnessed the birth of the French Renaissance.