Château du Plaix

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château du Plaix, on the banks of the Arnon at Saint-Hilaire-en-Lignières (Cher), combines medieval elements (arrow slits, 15th-century mullioned windows), 17th–18th-century additions and 19th-century Gothic Revival features; it is surrounded by water-filled moats crossed by a fixed bridge. The fief was granted around 1220 to the captain of the land of Lignières; from the 15th to the 17th century it belonged to a cadet branch of the La Châtre family, then passed in the 18th–19th centuries to the Tailhandier family. A hydroelectric installation made it one of the first electrified places in the region. In 1961, the Goin-Berthier family sold it to the folklore group Les Thiaulins de Lignières; it was listed as a historic monument in November 1995. Today the château houses a museum of Berry peasant arts and traditions and the Union pour la préservation des ressources génétiques du Berry (URGB), and hosts lectures and traditional music workshops, including the annual Assemblée du Plaix.