Château de Loches, Loches, France

The Château de Loches was constructed in the 9th century. Built some 500 metres above the Indre River, the huge castle, famous mostly for its massive square keep, dominates the town of Loches. Designed and occupied by Henry II of England and his son, Richard the Lionheart during the 12th century, the castle withstood the assaults by the French king Philip II in their wars for control of France until it was finally captured by Philip in 1204.

Construction work immediately upgraded Loches into a huge military fortress. The castle would become a favorite residence of Charles VII of France who gave it to his mistress, Agnès Sorel, as her residence. It would be converted for use as a State prison by his son, King Louis XI who had lived there as a child but preferred the royal castle at Amboise.

During the American Revolution, France financed and fought with the Americans against England and King Louis XVI used the castle of Loches as a prison for captured Englishmen. At the time of the French Revolution, the château was ransacked and severely damaged. Some major restoration began in 1806 but today there are parts visible as ruins only. Owned by the Commune of Loches, the castle and the adjacent ancient Church of Saint-Ours are open to the public.

Château de Loches has been recognised as a monument historique since 1861 and is listed by the French Ministry of Culture.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Dave Reed (5 months ago)
Stunning views and scary dungeons, although some of the stairways were challenging if you've got vertigo. Beautiful grounds and gardens, lots of sunny or shady spots for a picnic.

Aurelien Gilbert (22 months ago)
Nice medical city to visit for a couple of hours. The donjon is beautiful and you can walk around easily. Highly recommend the place

Kamilia (2 years ago)
Beautiful castle complex. You have to pay 1 ticket to be able to enter both the Donjon Fortress and the Logis Royal Castle, other than that you can roam around for free around the medieval styled city and garden. The ticket is definitely worth to pay, while exploring the Donjon Fortress they'll give you a tablet called Histopad intstalled with a very interactive application to help you explore the fortress, with Histopad your experience feels like a treasure hunt (good for kids and adventurous people!) Prepare to take a lot of staircases and to walk a lot.

Stuart Foxall (2 years ago)
We only visited the older part, not the chateau. Brilliant way to spend a couple of hours and kept two adults and two children (9 & 13) very interested.

Carolyn Dexter (2 years ago)
I was really disappointed with my visit. Having visited lots of other chateaux in the region I was expecting something similar. Unfortunately not. Entrance fee 13E got you in and also to the dungeons. My main issue was not being able to read about most of the things on view. You may say, it's in France so expect explanations in French!? However when we came out we were told about an app we could gave downloaded before entering that would have explained everything. Surely the lady taking our money (who had a badge on saying she spoke English) could have mentioned it? Even if she had pointed to some written document that we could have read before going in. Anyway, it was very sparsely furnished and only a few rooms you could go in. The dungeons were really just ruins but you got a feel on just how big and deep these must have been all those years ago. So, yes I was disappointed. There are many more chateaux to visit for the same price that are far more attractive and interesting.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright gwpics

Historic Site of the week

Abbey of Saint-Georges

Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.

The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).

Château de Loches

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historic Site of the week

Abbey of Saint-Georges