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In the 11th century a fortress belonging to Hugues de Champchevrier stood in place of the current Château de Champchevrier. It passed by marriage to different families: the Laval, the Bastarnay, and then the Daillon in 1550. On the ruins of the fortress, the Daillons rebuilt a Renaissance castle, whose mullion windows you can still see.
Henri de Daillon had no son so his nephew, Antoine, Duke de Roquelaure, a Marshal of France, inherited the castle in 1686. He built courtyards, gardens and moats all around the castle. Antoine de Roquelaure had no son either and as his wife preferred the court of Versailles to Champchevrier, he sold the castle in 1728 to Jean-Baptiste Pierre Henri de la Rüe du Can. The new owner was made Baron of Champchevrier by Louis XV in 1741 by letters patent which made the Champchevrier estate into a barony. The present owners are his direct descendants and so the same family has owned the castle for nearly three centuries.
The first baron built the terrace on the East side (first half of the 18th century). He was very committed to improving the estate and created the fine views from all sides of the castle towards the surrounding forest.
Today Château de Champchevrier is open to the public and hosts events.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.