Located on a promontory overlooking a tributary and an arm of the Loire, on the right bank, the Château de Champtocé is mentioned as early as the 11th century when the counts of Anjou controlled traffic on the river there. A first castellum was built there around 1075 and then it became a fortress at the beginning of the 14th century.
Strategic site between Anjou and Brittany, place of toll for bargemen, the castle subsequently experienced many changes of owners. However, it was already partially ruined during the Revolution.
Accessible via a gatehouse guarding a drawbridge and protected by gunboats, the castle was made up of eleven towers. Only one remains today, as well as a postern.
Today Château de Champtocé is a protected historical monument belonging to the community. It has been the subject since the 1990s of security and restoration work undertaken by an association of passionate volunteers.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.