The 'lower castle' served as a residence for the Counts and later The Princes of Celje during the 14th and 15th century. It was separated from the town settlement by battlements and a defence ditch. After the extinction of The princes of Celje in the 15th century, the court was used as an office of the Habsburg caretakers and was transformed into a barracks in the 18th century. The building we know today has undergone many radical changes, most of them during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa.
The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.